Making DNA self-assembly error-proof: Attaining small growth error rates through embedded information redundancy

DNA self-assembly is emerging as the most promising technique for nanoscale self-assembly as it uses the simple, yet precise rules of DNA binding to create macroscale assemblies from nanoscale components. However, DNA self-assembly is also highly error-prone and requires the use of error-resilience techniques in order to unlock its potential. In this paper we propose a technique for error-resilience that is based on information redundancy but, in contrast to previous information redundancy schemes, can achieve much higher resilience to growth errors. By expanding the neighborhood from which redundant information is taken, we can extend the distance that errors are propagated and therefore increase the likelihood of the error being reversed. Given a growth error rate of isin, we show that with a neighborhood of only 2 we can reduce the error rate to isin^3.64 for arbitrary functions (as compared to isin^2.33 previously achieved). Compared with spatial redundancy approaches, our technique allows for higher density nanostructures and has a greatly reduced assembly time.