DNA Self Assembly

Other Unique Engineering Ideas

Much as human technology uses electronic microprocessors to control electromechanical devices, biological organisms use biochemical circuits to control molecular and chemical events. Although the construction of biochemical circuits has been explored theoretically since the birth of molecular biology, our practical experience with the capabilities and possible programming of biochemical algorithms is still very young. In following discussion we will more about a special hailed as the DNA self assembly.

  1. Description

  2. Why DNA

  3. How Are They Employed

  4. Future Trends

  5. Related Links

Useful Links: DNA, Self-assembly, Molecular self-assembly 

Description 

Self-assembly is a term used to describe processes in which a disordered system of pre-existing components. It forms an organized structure or pattern as a consequence of specific, local interactions among the components themselves, without external direction. This interesting behavior is also found in the DNA molecules in human body.Self-assembly is crucial to the function of cells. It is exhibited in the self-assembly of lipids to form the membrane, the formation of double helical DNA through hydrogen bonding of the individual strands, and the assembly of proteins to form quaternary structures. Molecular self-assembly of incorrectly folded proteins into insoluble amyloidal fibers is responsible for infectious prion-related neurodegenerative diseases.

Why DNA 

The following properties of DNA make it more desirable

  • Excellent medium for data storage.

  • Can also be easily replicated.

  • Digital samples can be easily recorded. 

DNA nanotechnology is an area of current research that uses the bottom-up, self-assembly approach for nanotechnological goals. DNA nanotechnology uses the unique molecular recognition properties of DNA and other nucleic acids to create self-assembling branched DNA complexes with useful properties. DNA is thus used as a structural material rather than as a carrier of biological information, to make structures such as two-dimensional periodic lattices (both tile-based as well as using the "DNA origami" method) and three-dimensional structures in the shapes of polyhedra. These DNA structures have also been used to template the assembly of other molecules such as gold nanoparticles and streptavidin proteins.In the following sections we discuss few advent technologies employing DNA self assembly in production of nano-systems. 

How Are They Employed         

Two complementary perspectives on molecular computation:

  • Using the astounding parallelism of chemistry to solve mathematical problems, such as combinatorial search problems.

  • Using biochemical algorithms to direct and control molecular processes, such as complex fabrication tasks.

The latter currently appears to be the more promising of the two. This led to identifying DNA self assembly properties as an alternative to current computational methods.

(I) 4x4 Grids

Duke University scientists have used the self-assembling properties of DNA to mass-produce nanometer-scale structures in the shape of a 4x4 grids, on which patterns of molecules can be specified.

  • Used DNA strands to create grids less than one ten-millionth of a meter square.

  • At a scale 10 times smaller than the smallest circuits now being manufactured.

The smallest features on these square DNA lattices are approximately five to 10 billionths of a meter (nanometers), according to the scientists, compared with about 65 nanometers in silicon circuits created using photolithography. To demonstrate their ability to mass-produce grids with infinitesimal patterns, the scientists created batches of trillions of separate grids with the letters "D," "N" and "A" written with a protein that can be seen through atomic force microscopy(AFM).

(II) Computer-aided design of nano-filter construction

Using DNA self-assembly by Reza Mohammadzadegan and Hassan Mohabatkar:-Computer-aided design plays a fundamental role in both top-down and bottom-up nano-system fabrication. This is a bottom-up nanofilter patterning process based on DNA self-assembly. In this study a new method is evolved to construct fully designed nano-filters with the pores between 5 nm and 9 nm in diameter. By constructing such a nano-filter we would be able to separate many molecules.

Future Trends

The researchers have not yet produced a functional circuit on a grid. However, in future studies, they plan to generate grids larger than four tiles by four tiles and to populate the grids with molecules that can conduct electrons or light waves to form simple circuits.Based on the characteristics those circuits would have, Dwyer and colleagues have drawn up designs for computer chips. The researchers also may explore how their method of assembling tiles can be used create biological structures that could act as tiny sensors.

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