Using DNA to construct and power a nanoactuator.
A DNA-based molecular machine is described which has two movable arms that are pushed apart when a strand of DNA, the fuel strand, hybridizes with a single-stranded region of the molecular machine. Through the process of branch migration, a second strand of DNA complementary to the fuel strand is able to remove the fuel strand from the molecular machine, restoring it to its original configuration. Compared with the molecular tweezers we had previously devised, this machine, which we call a nanoactuator, has a reduced tendency to form dimers.
Simmel
F C
FC
Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974, USA.
Yurke
B
B
D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D019281:Dimerization; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D013997:Time Factors
D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; D004247:DNA