ABSTRACT
Polymerases are a family of enzymes responsible for copying or replication of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) templates and hence sustenance of life processes. In this paper, we present a method to exploit a strand-displacing polymerase phi29 as a driving force for nanoscale transportation devices. The principal idea behind the device is strong strand displacement ability of phi29, which can displace any DNA strand from its template while extending a primer hybridized to the template. This capability of phi29 is used to power the movement of a target nanostructure on a DNA track. The major advantage of using a polymerase driven nanotransportation device as compared to other existing nanorobotical devices is its speed. phi29 polymerase can travel at the rate of 2000 nucleotides per minute at room temperature, which translates to approximately 680 nm min(-1) on a nanostructure. We also demonstrate transportation of a DNA cargo on a DNA track with the help of fluorescence resonance electron transfer data.
Subject(s)
Bacillus Phages/enzymology , DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase/metabolism , DNA/chemistry , DNA/metabolism , Nanostructures/chemistry , Fluorescence Resonance Energy TransferABSTRACT
Synthesizing molecular tubes with monodisperse, programmable circumferences is an important goal shared by nanotechnology, materials science, and supermolecular chemistry. We program molecular tube circumferences by specifying the complementarity relationships between modular domains in a 42-base single-stranded DNA motif. Single-step annealing results in the self-assembly of long tubes displaying monodisperse circumferences of 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, or 20 DNA helices.
