First electric nanomotor made from DNA material
Motor design and experimental setup. a,b, Schematics of a pedestal and a triangular platform, respectively. Cylinders indicate DNA double helices. c, Schematic illustration of motor assembly steps. d,e, Rotor arm components. f, Left, schematic illustration of the experimental setup for observing motor dynamics in an inverted TIRF microscope. The pedestal is fixed through several biotin–neutravidin linkages to a microscope coverslip. Orange star, Cy5 dyes. Blue stars, labeling positions for DNA-PAINT imager strands. Right, two platinum electrodes are immersed in the liquid chamber from above and connected to a function generator generating a square-wave alternating current to create a fixed-axis energetic modulation that acts on all motors. Credit: Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04910-y

For the first time, a research team led by the Technical University of Munich has succeeded in producing a molecule electric motor. The tiny machine makes use of genetic material to build itself. The researchers can control the rotation speed and direction with the help of the newnano motor.

Motors help us accomplish a wide variety of tasks in our daily lives. Natural molecular motor perform important tasks in our bodies. Our body uses the molecule adenosine triphosphate to store and transfer energy.

It has been difficult to create a motor on this scale with the same mechanical properties as a natural molecule motor. The results of the research team's work were published in the journal Nature. The team was led by Hendrik Dietz, Professor of Biomolecular Nanotechnology at TUM, Friedrich Simmel, Professor of Physics of Synthetic Biological Systems at TUM, and Ramin Golestanian.

There is a self-assembling motor.

The novel motor is made up of genes. The motor from the DNA molecule was assembled by the researchers. The method was further developed by the research team at TUM. A basis for which additional DNA strands attach themselves to their counterparts is served by several long single strands of the same genetic material. The attached strands and folds are used to pick out the desired structures.

We have been working on this method of fabrication for a long time and can now make objects that are very precise and complex. The objects self-assemble if you put the right strands in solution.

The base, platform and rotor arm are part of the newnano motor. The base is 40 nanometers high and fixed to a glass plate using chemical bonds. A long arm of up to 500 nanometers is mounted on the base so that it can move. There is a platform between the base and the rotor arm that is important for the motor to work. There are obstacles that affect the movement of the helicopter. The arm must bend upward in order to pass obstacles and move.

First electric nanomotor made from DNA material
Structural analysis of the DNA origami motor. a, Different views of a 3D electron density map of the motor block determined by means of single-particle cryo-EM (see also Extended Data Fig. 4 and in the Electron Microscopy Data Bank (EMDB) under code EMD-14358). b, Motor block cryo-EM map detail depicted at different density thresholds at which the three obstacles and the rotor dock can be discerned. Inset, schematic showing the six preferred dwelling sites of the rotor arm. c, Exemplary negative-staining TEM images of a motor variant with long rotor arm attached. Scale bar, 50 nm. d, Exemplary single-particle fluorescence images. Scale bar, 500 nm. The images show the standard deviation of the mean intensity per pixel computed over all the frames from recorded TIRF videos. e, DNA-PAINT images showing rotor arm tip positions relative to the triangle platform. Scale bar, 500 nm. Credit: Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04910-y

The movement was targeted through AC voltages.

Without energy supply, the motor's arms move randomly in one direction or the other, driven by a collision with a nearby solvent. As soon as the AC voltage is applied, the rotor arms rotation in one direction.

Torques in the range of 10 piconewton times nanometer can be achieved by the new motor. Ramin Golestanian leads the theoretical analysis of the mechanism of the motor.

A superposition of the electrical forces with the forces experienced by the rotor arm results in the targeted movement of the motor. The mechanism is called a flashing Brownian ratchet. The researchers can use the direction of the electric field and the AC voltage to control the rotation.

There could be technical applications for the new motor. We could use the motor to drive user-defined chemical reactions if we develop it further. The surfaces could be covered with the motor. Dietz says that you would add starting materials, apply a little AC voltage, and the motor would make the desired chemical compound.

More information: Anna-Katharina Pumm et al, A DNA origami rotary ratchet motor, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04910-y Journal information: Nature
Rotor armDNAMotorDNA origami
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