Artist impression of the flow-driven DNA rotor. Credit: Cees Dekker Lab/ SciXel
Scientists have constructed the tiniest flow-driven motors on the planet. Inspired by renowned Dutch windmills and biological motor proteins, they developed a self-configuring flow-driven rotor from DNA that transforms energy from an electrical or salt gradient into useful mechanical work. The outcomes open new point of views for engineering active robotics at the nanoscale. The paper by Delft University of Technology researchers will be released today in Nature Physics.
Evasive
Rotary motors have been the powerhouses of human societies for millennia. We can look back in history to the windmills and waterwheels across the Netherlands and the world. Today, advanced offshore wind turbines drive our green-energy future.
” These rotary motors, driven by a flow, also include prominently in biological cells. An example is the FoF1-ATP synthase, which produces the fuel that cells need to run. The synthetic building and construction at the nanoscale has hence far stayed evasive,” states Dr. Xin Shi, postdoctoral scientist in the laboratory of professor Cees Dekker in the department of Bionanoscience at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft).
” Our flow-driven motor is made from DNA product. This structure is docked onto a nanopore, a tiny opening, in a thin membrane. The DNA bundle of just 7 nanometer density self-organizes under an electric field into a rotor-like setup, that consequently is set into a continual rotary movement of more than 10 transformations per 2nd,” says Shi, very first author of the publication in the journal Nature Physics.
DNA origami
” For already 7 years, we have actually been trying to build such rotary nanomotors synthetically from the bottom up. We use a strategy called DNA origami, in collaboration with Hendrik Dietzs laboratory from the Technical University of Munich,” includes Cees Dekker, who monitored the research study. This strategy uses the particular interactions between complementary DNA base pairs to develop 2D and 3D nano-objects. The rotors harness energy from a water and ion flow. This is developed through an applied voltage or perhaps easier: by having different salt concentrations on the 2 sides of the membrane. The latter is really one of the most abundant energy sources in biology that powers various critical procedures, including cellular fuel synthesis and cell propulsion.
Fixing a puzzle
When the scientists first observed the rotations, nevertheless, they were puzzled: how could such easy DNA rods exhibit these nice, sustained rotations? They modeled the system and revealed the remarkable self-organization process where the bundles spontaneously warp into chiral rotors that then pair to the flow from the nanopores.
From simpleness to logical design
The importance of this work does not stop at this simple rotor itself. “You would be amazed how little we achieved and understood on building such flow-driven nanoturbines, especially provided the millennia-old understanding we have on constructing their macroscale counterparts, and the critical roles they satisfy in the life itself,” states Shi.
In a further action (which remains in preprint) the group has actually utilized the knowledge they learned from building this self-organized rotor to make the next crucial advance: the very first logically developed nanoscale turbine. “Like how science and technologies always work, we began with an easy pinwheel, now have the ability to recreate the gorgeous Dutch windmills, but this time with a size of just 25 nm, the size of one single protein in your body,” says Shi, “and we demonstrated their ability to carry loads.”
” And now, the rotation instructions was set by the designed chirality,” Dekker adds. “Left-handed turbines rotated clockwise; right-handed ones turned anticlockwise.”
Steam engine
Next to better understanding and mimicking motor proteins such as FoF1-ATP synthase, the results open new viewpoints for engineering active robotics at the nanoscale. Shi: “What we have actually shown here is a nanoscale engine that is really able to transduce energy and do work. You might draw an analogy with the very first invention of the steam engine in the 18th century. Who could have predicted then how it essentially altered our societies? We may be in a similar phase now with these molecular nanomotors. The capacity is endless, however there is still a lot of work to do.”
Referral: “Sustained unidirectional rotation of a self-organized DNA rotor on a nanopore” 4 August 2022, Nature Physics.DOI: 10.1038/ s41567-022-01683-z.
Motivated by renowned Dutch windmills and biological motor proteins, they produced a self-configuring flow-driven rotor from DNA that transforms energy from an electrical or salt gradient into useful mechanical work.” Our flow-driven motor is made from DNA material. The DNA package of just 7 nanometer thickness self-organizes under an electrical field into a rotor-like setup, that consequently is set into a continual rotary movement of more than 10 transformations per 2nd,” states Shi, first author of the publication in the journal Nature Physics.
We utilize a method called DNA origami, in cooperation with Hendrik Dietzs lab from the Technical University of Munich,” includes Cees Dekker, who monitored the research study. When the scientists first observed the rotations, nevertheless, they were puzzled: how could such easy DNA rods display these nice, continual rotations?
