State-transition of DNA nanomachines based on photonic control

摘要

DNA is good material for generating nanoscale-creations including nano-structures and nano-machines because the DNA is capable of making specific bonds depending on the sequences. The capability is helpful for programming behavior of the creations. Yurke et al. demonstrated a manomachine called DNA tweezers [B. Yurke et al., Nature, 406, pp. 605 (2000).], which is closed by adding fuel-DNA and opened by adding another strand of DNA. This paper describes on state-transition of DNA nanomachines using photonic signals and shows the primary results of experiments. The use of photonic signal offers a method for parallel and local operation of DNA nanomachines depending on information from the outside of the solution. This idea is applicable to control nano-world based on photonics techniques. Azobenzene-tethered DNA is used for photonic operation. The form of the azobenzene is converted to cis-form under ultraviolet irradiation and trans-form under visible-light irradiation, and our scheme is based on the dependence of the binding strength of the azobenzene-tethered DNA and its complementary DNA on the form of the azobenzene[H. Asanuma et al., Nature Protocols, 2, pp. 203 (2007).] . Two types of DNA nanomachines controlled through photonic signals were investigated. One is a stepwise-growth type and the other is a self-contained type. The experimental results show that the state of the DNA nanomachine is changed after ultraviolet irradiation and visible-light irradiation. We succeeded to operate the self-contained type of DNA nanomachine no less than ten cycles.