† Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
Nano Lett., Article ASAP
DOI: 10.1021/nl3026136
Publication Date (Web): August 27, 2012
Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society
The ability to create synthetic chemomechanical machines with engineered
functionality promises large technological rewards. However, current
efforts in molecular chemistry are restrained by the formidable
challenges faced in molecular structure and function prediction. An
alternative approach to engineering machines with tailorable
chemomechanical functionality is to design Brownian ratchet devices
using molecular assemblies. We demonstrate this through the creation of
autonomous molecular machines that sense, mechanically react, and
extract energy from ligand–receptor binding. We present a specific
instantiation, measuring approximately 100 nm in length, which actuates
upon detection of a streptavidin ligand. Machines were designed through
the tailoring of energy landscapes on 3D DNA origami motifs. We also
analyzed the response over a logarithmic concentration ratio
(device:ligand) range from 1:101 to 1:105.
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