A DNA origami nanoturbine is designed as a rotary motor that draws power from an ion gradient or electrical potential across a solid-state nanopore. Single-molecule experiments demonstrate that the turbine can drive a DNA bundle into sustained unidirectional rotation, with the preferred rotation direction set by the chirality of the turbine.
References
Kassem, S. et al. Artificial molecular motors. Chem. Soc. Rev. 46, 2592–2621 (2017). A review article that presents artificial molecular motors.
Ramezani, H. & Dietz, H. Building machines with DNA molecules. Nat. Rev. Genet. 21, 5–26 (2020). A review article that presents the construction of nanoscale machines using DNA techniques.
Courbet, A. et al. Computational design of mechanically coupled axle-rotor protein assemblies. Science 376, 383–390 (2022). This paper reports de novo designed rotary proteins.
Maffeo, C., Quednau, L., Wilson, J. & Aksimentiev, A. DNA double helix, a tiny electromotor. Nat. Nanotechnol. 18, 238–242 (2023). This paper reports molecular dynamics simulations that show that a single DNA double helix can function as a nanomotor.
Shi, X. et al. Sustained unidirectional rotation of a self-organized DNA rotor on a nanopore. Nat. Phys. 18, 1105–1111 (2022). This paper reports self-organized DNA rotors on nanopores.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This is a summary of: Shi, X. et al. A DNA turbine powered by a transmembrane potential across a nanopore. Nat. Nanotechnol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-023-01527-8 (2023).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nanoturbine driven by flow across a nanopore. Nat. Nanotechnol. 19, 279–280 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-023-01532-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-023-01532-x
- Springer Nature Limited