title: Single-DNA molecule nanomotor regulated by photons.
abstract: We report the design of a single-molecule nanomotor driven by photons. The nanomotor is a DNA hairpin-structured molecule incorporated with azobenzene moieties to facilitate reversible photocontrollable switching. Upon repeated UV-vis irradiation, this nanomotor displayed 40-50% open-close conversion efficiency. This type of nanomotor displays well-regulated responses and can be operated under mild conditions with no output of waste. In contrast to multiple-component DNA nanomachines, the intramolecular interaction in this single-molecule system offers unique concentration-independent motor functionality. Moreover, the hairpin structure of the motor backbone can significantly improve the efficiency of light-to-movement energy conversion. These results suggest that azobenzene-incorporated, hairpin-structured single-molecule DNA nanomotors have promising potential for applications which require highly efficient light-driven molecular motors.
authors.affiliation: Center for Research at Bio/Nano Interface, Department of Chemistry, Shands Cancer Center, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7200, USA.
authors.forename: Huaizhi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Haipeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Zehui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Youngmi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zunyi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jianwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Weihong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D001391:Azo Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009038:Motion; D036103:Nanotechnology; D017785:Photons; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D001391:Azo Compounds; D004247:DNA; C009850:azobenzene