Nanoscopic 'robot arms' built from DNA
Date: 23.12.2006
An arrangement of nanoscopic robot arms made entirely from DNA and controlled using further DNA strands has been revealed by US scientists.
DNA is an attractive nanoscale building material since strands can be made to "zip" together – when sections of base sequences are complimentary – creating novel and reconfigurable structures.
The nanoscopic arms were created by Nadrian Seeman of New York University in the US. The arms flip between orientations when exposed to complimentary DNA and could, in future, be used to move molecules around or construct nanoscopic structures. "This may enable us to make things we simply cannot make any other way," Seeman says.
Carefully chosen pieces of DNA are first combined in a solution so that complimentary portions bind together and create a long slender body, with an "arm" that sticks out at about 90°.
**Surface tiles**
Seeman's group has previously shown how to move such DNA shapes
Whole article: "http://www.newscientisttech.com":[ http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10763]
