An experimental study of the putative mechanism of a synthetic autonomous rotary DNA nanomotor.

K E Dunn,M C Leake,A J M Wollman,S Johnson,A M Tyrrell,M A Trefzer

doi:10.1098/rsos.160767

Abstract

DNA has been used to construct a wide variety of nanoscale molecular devices. Inspiration for such synthetic molecular machines is frequently drawn from protein motors, which are naturally occurring and ubiquitous. However, despite the fact that rotary motors such as ATP synthase and the bacterial flagellar motor play extremely important roles in nature, very few rotary devices have been constructed using DNA. This paper describes an experimental study of the putative mechanism of a rotary DNA nanomotor, which is based on strand displacement, the phenomenon that powers many synthetic linear DNA motors. Unlike other examples of rotary DNA machines, the device described here is designed to be capable of autonomous operation after it is triggered. The experimental results are consistent with operation of the motor as expected, and future work on an enhanced motor design may allow rotation to be observed at the single-molecule level. The rotary motor concept presented here has potential applications in molecular processing, DNA computing, biosensing and photonics.

Highlights

It was first suggested in the 1980s that DNA could be used to build nanostructures through self-assembly of oligonucleotides by complementary base pairing [1]
This paper describes the experimental study of the putative mechanism of an autonomous rotary DNA motor, through a series of experiments in which the underlying principles were tested and a prototype of the motor was examined
This paper has described an experimental study of the putative mechanism of a prototype synthetic rotary motor made from DNA

Summary

Introduction

It was first suggested in the 1980s that DNA could be used to build nanostructures through self-assembly of oligonucleotides by complementary base pairing [1]. In a DNA nanostructure, the base sequence of each DNA strand is designed to ensure that it binds in the correct position and performs its intended function. Static DNA nanostructures described in the literature include polyhedra [2,3,4], tiles [5], solid blocks [6] and twisted or curved shapes [7]. DNA can be used to make dynamic nanomachines that are capable of undergoing a change of state or conformation.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion