Scientists Build ‘Mechanically Active’ DNA Material
Scientists Build ‘Mechanically Active’ DNA Material
Researchers at UCSB have designed a “smart” material made of DNA that responds with movement when stimulated
Artificial muscles and self-propelled goo may be the stuff of Hollywood fiction, but for UC Santa Barbara scientists Omar Saleh and Deborah Fygenson, the reality of it is not that far away. By blending their areas of expertise, the pair have created a dynamic gel made of DNA that mechanically responds to stimuli in much the same way that cells do. The results of their research were published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“This is a whole new kind of responsive gel, or what some might call a ‘smart’ material,” said Saleh, associate professor of materials, affiliated with UCSB’s Biomolecular Science and Engineering program. “The gel has active mechanical capabilities in that it generates forces independently, leading to changes in elasticity or shape, when fed ATP molecules for energy—much like a living cell.”
[Pictured above: The DNA gel is composed of stiff DNA nanotubes connected to each other via long, flexible DNA linkers. A motor protein, FtsK50C, binds to special sites on the linkers. When ATP, a biochemical fuel, is allowed to permeate the gel, the motor molecules reel in the linkers to which they are bound, drawing nanotubes together, and stiffening the gel. Credit: Peter Allen, UCSB]Their DNA gel, at only 10 microns in width, is roughly the size of a eukaryotic cell, the type of cell of which humans are made. The miniscule gel contains within it stiff DNA nanotubes linked together by longer, flexible DNA strands that serve as the substrate for molecular motors.