OUR IDEA
BACKGROUND
DNA nanotechnology is growing rapidly and is widely accepted as a tool in multidisciplinary research fields. It is an attempt to use this DNA as a chemical material, and is realized by DNA nanostructure self-organization technology. Nadrian Seeman proposed the self-assembly technique in 1982[1]. DNA nanostructure self-assembly refers to DNA molecules spontaneously forming nanoscale structures through intermolecular and intramolecular hybridization. Since then, DNA nanostructures of various shapes have been constructed, and are now applied to nanoscale placement techniques such as metal nanoparticles and proteins.
In recent year, DNA origami isattracting attention as a programmed DNA assembly system based on this DNA nanotechnology.DNA origami was developed by Paul Rothemund at the California Institute of Technology.[2] It is the nanoscale folding of DNA to create two- and three-dimensional shapes at the nanoscale. The specificity of the interactions between complementary base pairs make DNA a useful construction material, through design of its base sequences.[3] DNA is a well-understood material that is suitable for creating scaffolds that hold other molecules in place or to create structures all on its own. This DNA origami is expected to be applied to various reseachesand one of them is “molecular machines”.
The 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to “Design and Synthesis of Molecular Machines”. These molecular machines are intended to realize the parts that correspond to “motors” and “joints” in robots with molecules. Aiming for the future, “sensors”, “processors”, and “actuators” are the three elements for constructing a minimal autonomous robot. A research field called “Molecular Robotics” is being born, aiming to realize all of these in molecules and assemble them into nano-sized “molecular robots”.
As an interesting example for this molecular robots, there is “Nanocars”. They are single molecule vehicles that resemble macroscopic automobiles and are important for understanding how to control molecular diffusion on surfaces. In recent years, The race by this Nanocars takes place. It is an international scientific competition with the aim of testing the performance of molecular machines and the scientific instruments used to control them. The first nanocars were synthesized by James M. Tour in 2005. They had an H shaped chassis and 4 molecular wheels (fullerenes) attached to the four corners. In 2011, Ben Feringa and co-workers synthesized the first motorized nanocar which had molecular motors attached to the chassis as rotating wheels. The authors were able to demonstrate directional motion of the nanocar on a copper surface by providing energy from a scanning tunneling microscope tip. Later in 2017, worlds first ever Nanocar race took place in France.
In recent years, dynamic self-assembled DNA nanostructures have been created and attracting attention.
Previously, self-organized nanoscale robot arms[4] and nanoscale rotating devices have been created.[5]
PROBLEM & SOLUTION
However, the structure had their own problem.
The structure makes molecular rotation limited.
We propose the idea to solve this problem.
It's to secure a space to keep turning as shown in the figure.
OUR GOAL
We aim to create an origami structure that can continue to rotate. And, we control the rotation by cis–trans isomerization of the azobenzene. We expect to make Nanocar by using this mechanism.
1. Synthesis of azobenzene.
2. Design body and tires with cadnano.
3. DNA synthesis and Hybridization.
4. Production of DNA origami.
REFERENCE
[1] Seeman, Nadrian C. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 1982, 99, 237–247.
[2] Rothemund, P. W. Nature, 2006, 440(7082), 297.
[3] Reza M. Zadegan, Michael L. Norton Int. J. Mol. Sci., 2012, 13 (6): 7149–7162.
[4] Enzo Kopperger,Jonathan Science, 2018, 359(6373), 296-301.
[5] Philip Ketterer, Elena M. Willner and
Hendrik Dietz, Science Advances, 2016,
2(2) , 2375-2548.