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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Designing a Bio-responsive Robot from DNA Origami
Published on: July 8, 2013
Multi-Reconfigurable DNA Origami Nanolattice Driven by the Combination of Orthogonal Signals
Kotaro Watanabe1, Ibuki Kawamata1, Satoshi Murata1
1Department of Robotics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-01 Aramaki-Aza Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8579, Japan.
Abstract:
The progress of the scaffolded DNA origami technology has enabled the construction of various dynamic nanodevices imitating the shapes and motions of mechanical elements. To further expand the achievable configurational changes, the incorporation of multiple movable joints into a single DNA origami structure and their precise control are desired. Here, we propose a multi-reconfigurable 3 × 3 lattice structure consisting of nine frames with rigid four-helix struts connected with flexible 10-nucleotide joints. The configuration of each frame is determined by the arbitrarily selected orthogonal pair of signal DNAs, resulting in the transformation of the lattice into various shapes. We also demonstrated sequential reconfiguration of the nanolattice and its assemblies from one into another via an isothermal strand displacement reaction at physiological temperatures. Our modular and scalable design approach could serve as a versatile platform for a variety of applications that require reversible and continuous shape control with nanoscale precision.

