title: Metallic conduction through engineered DNA: DNA nanoelectronic building blocks.
abstract: A novel way of engineering DNA molecules involves substituting the imino proton of each base pair with a metal ion to obtain M-DNA with altered electronic properties. We report the first direct evidence of metalliclike conduction through 15 microm long M-DNA. In contrast, measurements on B-DNA give evidence of semiconducting behavior with a few hundred meV band gap at room temperature. The drastic change of M-DNA conductivity points to a new degree of freedom in the development of future molecular electronics utilizing DNA, such as creating all-DNA junction devices for use as nanoelectronic building blocks.
authors.affiliation: Division of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rakitin
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aich
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papadopoulos
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kobzar
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Vedeneev
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D010582:Bacteriophage lambda / Q000235:genetics; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D015032:Zinc / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D015032:Zinc