Biomimetic Autonomous Enzymatic Nanowalker of High Fuel Efficiency.
Replicating efficient chemical energy utilization of biological nanomotors is one ultimate goal of nanotechnology and energy technology. Here, we report a rationally designed autonomous bipedal nanowalker made of DNA that achieves a fuel efficiency of less than two fuel molecules decomposed per productive forward step, hence breaking a general threshold for chemically powered machines invented to date. As a genuine enzymatic nanomotor without changing itself nor the track, the walker demonstrates a sustained motion on an extended double-stranded track at a speed comparable to previous burn-bridge motors. Like its biological counterparts, this artificial nanowalker realizes multiple chemomechanical gatings, especially a bias-generating product control unique to chemically powered nanomotors. This study yields rich insights into how pure physical effects facilitate harvest of chemical energy at the single-molecule level and provides a rarely available motor system for future development toward replicating the efficient, repeatable, automatic, and mechanistically sophisticated transportation seen in biomotor-based intracellular transport but beyond the capacity of the current burn-bridge motors.
Department of Physics and ‡NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore , Singapore 117542.
Meihan
M
Liu
Department of Physics and ‡NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore , Singapore 117542.
Juan
J
Cheng
Department of Physics and ‡NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore , Singapore 117542.
Shern Ren
SR
Tee
Department of Physics and ‡NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore , Singapore 117542.
Sarangapani
S
Sreelatha
Department of Physics and ‡NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore , Singapore 117542.
Iong Ying
IY
Loh
Department of Physics and ‡NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore , Singapore 117542.
Zhisong
Z
Wang
D032701:Biomimetics; D004247:DNA; D009038:Motion; D036103:Nanotechnology
D004247:DNA
DNA; enzyme; fuel efficiency; molecular machines; nanomotors