title: A bioinspired design principle for DNA nanomotors: mechanics-mediated symmetry breaking and experimental demonstration.
abstract: DNA nanotechnology is a powerful tool to fabricate nanoscale motors, but the DNA nanomotors to date are largely limited to the simplistic burn-the-bridge design principle that prevents re-use of a fabricated motor-track system and is unseen in biological nanomotors. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate a scheme to implement a conceptually new design principle by which a symmetric bipedal nanomotor autonomously gains a direction not by damaging the traversed track but by fine-tuning the motor's size.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117542, Singapore.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117542, Singapore.
authors.forename: Sarangapani
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sreelatha
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117542, Singapore; NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117542, Singapore.
authors.forename: Iong Ying
authors.initials: IY
authors.lastname: Loh
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117542, Singapore.
authors.forename: Meihan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117542, Singapore; NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117542, Singapore. Electronic address: phywangz@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Zhisong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D004247:DNA
keywords: Azobenzene; DNA nanotechnology; Molecular motor