Sustained unidirectional rotation of a self-organized DNA rotor on a nanopore

Xin Shi, Anna Katharina Pumm, Jonas Isensee, Wenxuan Zhao, Daniel Verschueren, Alejandro Martin-Gonzalez, Ramin Golestanian, Hendrik Dietz, Cees Dekker*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)
13 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Flow-driven rotary motors such as windmills and water wheels drive functional processes in human society. Although examples of such rotary motors also feature prominently in cell biology, their synthetic construction at the nanoscale has remained challenging. Here we demonstrate flow-driven rotary motion of a self-organized DNA nanostructure that is docked onto a nanopore in a thin solid-state membrane. An elastic DNA bundle self-assembles into a chiral conformation upon phoretic docking onto the solid-state nanopore, and subsequently displays a sustained unidirectional rotary motion of up to 20 rev s−1. The rotors harness energy from a nanoscale water and ion flow that is generated by a static chemical or electrochemical potential gradient in the nanopore, which are established through a salt gradient or applied voltage, respectively. These artificial nanoengines self-organize and operate autonomously in physiological conditions, suggesting ways to constructing energy-transducing motors at nanoscale interfaces.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1105-1111
Number of pages7
JournalNature Physics
Volume18
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

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