Toward Versatile Synthetic DNA Walkers
Abstract
Project Narrative Proposal Title: Toward Versatile Synthetic DNA Walkers Synthetic molecular motors are often inspired by biological motors in nature such as kinesin and dynein motor proteins that transport intracellular cargos along microtubules. Recent advances in DNA nanotechnology have yielded a new class of synthetic DNA walkers that display remarkable functionalities such as navigating a prescribed inorganic track autonomously. However, they have yet to make a revolutionary impact in the engineering realm due to several limitations. Their motility is far too slow compared to their biological counterparts, and the mechanisms for payload conjugation and release have not been developed. This research aims to address such issues, enabling us to surpass the boundaries of current molecular motor research. This proposal outlines a new research program that focuses on designing and studying versatile DNA walker systems. Here we describe our efforts to improve translocation kinetics of DNA walkers such that the synthetic motors can rival the biological motors. Besides kinetics, the stochastic nature and thermodynamics of single DNA motors will be elucidated by introducing a new sub-diffraction imaging scheme, specifically designed for probing our walker system. This proposal also presents chemical strategies and preliminary results for programming DNA walkers to perform specific tasks including payload pick-up and drop-off. The proposed activities include an active collaboration with researchers at the Naval Research Lab (NRL) for DNA-walker-driven regio-selective electrochemical activation. The proposed effort will also include the integration of the synthetic motors with the biological motors, which could form a basis for artificial mobile nanodevices and subcellular engineering, thus resulting in unique and transformative insights. The focus of the proposed program is to lay a strong scientific and engineering foundation necessary to realize DNA walker systems with versatility, functionality, robustness, accuracy, and complexity. The proposed research team will focus on three fundamental objectives: ?? Improve motility by combining multiple orthogonal walking principles (1st – 24th Month) ?? Explore payload and product release mechanisms (13th – 36th Month) ?? Integrate synthetic motors with biological motors (25th – 36th Month) The science and engineering explored in this research will find widespread applications including regio-selective electrochemical activation nanosystems, multimodal chemical-biological sensors, synthetic biology, and molecular transport systems. The outcome of this research will benefit the long-term vision and near future strategies of the Office of Naval Research (ONR). ??
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141512707
Entities
People
- Jong Hyun Choi
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Virginia