title: Construction of RNA-Quantum Dot Chimera for Nanoscale Resistive Biomemory Application.
abstract: RNA nanotechnology offers advantages to construct thermally and chemically stable nanoparticles with well-defined shape and structure. Here we report the development of an RNA-QD (quantum dot) chimera for resistive biomolecular memory application. Each QD holds two copies of the pRNA three-way junction (pRNA-3WJ) of the bacteriophage phi29 DNA packaging motor. The fixed quantity of two RNAs per QD was achieved by immobilizing the pRNA-3WJ with a Sephadex aptamer for resin binding. Two thiolated pRNA-3WJ serve as two feet of the chimera that stand on the gold plate. The RNA nanostructure served as both an insulator and a mediator to provide defined distance between the QD and gold. Immobilization of the chimera nanoparticle was confirmed with scanning tunneling microscopy. As revealed by scanning tunneling spectroscopy, the conjugated pRNA-3WJ-QD chimera exhibited an excellent electrical bistability signal for biomolecular memory function, demonstrating great potential for the development of resistive biomolecular memory and a nano-bio-inspired electronic device for information processing and computing.
authors.affiliation: †Nanobiotechnology Center, Markey Cancer Center, and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40536, United States.
authors.forename: Taek
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Biomedical Engineering, Gachon University, 191 Hambakmoero, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon 406-799, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ajay Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Yagati
authors.affiliation: †Nanobiotechnology Center, Markey Cancer Center, and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40536, United States.
authors.forename: Fengmei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pi
authors.affiliation: †Nanobiotechnology Center, Markey Cancer Center, and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40536, United States.
authors.forename: Ashwani
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: §Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Sogang University, 35 Baekbeom-ro (Sinsu-dong), Mapo-gu, Seoul 121-742, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong-Woo
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: †Nanobiotechnology Center, Markey Cancer Center, and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40536, United States.
authors.forename: Peixuan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D045663:Quantum Dots / Q000737:chemistry*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D012367:RNA, Viral
keywords: RNA nanotechnology; biomolecular electronics; nanoscale resistive biomolecular memory; pRNA−quantum dot chimera; phi29 DNA packaging motor