Patent ID: 8487084

Claim:
A particle assemblage comprising: a plurality of a first type of particle functionalized with a first sequence of nucleic acid, the first sequence comprising a single-stranded segment of linking nucleic acid and a segment of spacer nucleic acid, wherein at least one segment of the spacer nucleic acid sequence is double-stranded; a plurality of a second type of particle functionalized with a second sequence of nucleic acid, the second sequence comprising a single-stranded segment of linking nucleic acid and a segment of spacer nucleic acid, wherein at least one segment of the spacer nucleic acid sequence of the second sequence is double-stranded; wherein the first and second sequences of nucleic acids are non-mutually complementary to each other; a linker having a third sequence of nucleic acid comprising a first segment of linking nucleic acid complementary to the segment of linking nucleic acid of the first sequence, a second segment of linking nucleic acid complementary to the segment of linking nucleic acid of the second sequence, and a segment of neutral nucleic acid having a poly-T DNA sequence of at least 5 bases, the segment of neutral nucleic acid separating the first segment of linking nucleic acid and second segment of linking nucleic acid; wherein the first and second types of particle linked by hybridizing the first segment of linking nucleic acid of the linker to the complementary segment of linking nucleic acid of the first sequence and hybridizing the second segment of linking nucleic acid of the linker to the complementary segment of the linking nucleic acid of the second sequence, and the linked particles agglomerated to form the particle assemblage; and the particle assemblage displaying long-range crystalline order.