"Turbo-Charged" DNA Motors with Optimized Sequence Enable Single-Molecule Nucleic Acid Sensing

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Nanotechnology
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• DNA motors mimic natural motor proteins, utilizing chemical energy for mechanical motion.
• Applications include dynamic nanotechnology, biosensing, and drug delivery.
• Motor performance is often limited by a trade-off between speed and processivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the relationship between DNA leg-foothold affinity and DNA motor speed/processivity.
• Explore how DNA leg length and GC content influence motor performance.
• Optimize DNA motors for enhanced speed and biosensing capabilities.

Main Methods:

• Systematic variation of DNA leg length and GC content.
• Analysis of leg-foothold binding and dissociation rates.
• Measurement of motor instantaneous velocity and stall force.
• Programming motors to detect nucleic acid targets.

Main Results:

• DNA motors with 0% GC content achieved instantaneous velocities up to 150 nm/sec, significantly faster than previous designs.
• These high-speed motors demonstrated single-molecule sensitivity in nucleic acid detection.
• Tuning GC content and leg length effectively controlled motor speed and force.

Conclusions:

• 0% GC content DNA motors offer a three-fold increase in speed compared to prior motors.
• The tunable nature of these DNA motors enables high-performance biosensing.
• Findings provide a design strategy for advanced DNA motors in nanotechnology and diagnostics.