January 22, 2025

[Press Release] Can DNA-nanoparticle motors get up to speed with motor proteins ?

(Illustration by Takanori Harashima, Restriction: CC BY)

Release Summary

DNA-nanoparticle motors are exactly as they sound: tiny artificial motors that use the structures of DNA and RNA to propel motion by enzymatic RNA degradation. Essentially, chemical energy is converted into mechanical motion by biasing the Brownian motion. The DNA-nanoparticle motor uses the “burnt-bridge” Brownian ratchet mechanism. In this type of movement, the motor is being propelled by the degradation (or “burning”) of the bonds (or “bridges”) it crosses along the substrate, essentially biasing its motion forward.

These nano-sized motors are highly programmable and can be designed for use in molecular computation, diagnostics, and transport. Despite their genius, DNA-nanoparticle motors don’t have the speed of their biological counterparts, the motor protein, which is where the issue lies. This is where researchers come in to analyze, optimize, and rebuild a faster artificial motor using single-particle tracking experiment and geometry-based kinetic simulation.

For Details(EurekAlert!)

Information of the paper

  • Authors : Takanori Harashima, Akihiro Otomo, Ryota Iino
  • Journal Name : Nature Communications
  • Journal Title : “Rational engineering of DNA-nanoparticle motor with high speed and processivity comparable to motor proteins”
  • DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56036-0

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