BiOtEchNOLOgy 17
Nanofabrication technology could
lead to detection breakthrough
Scientists in the US have
made a breakthrough
with a DNA-based
B
uilding on the idea of using DNA to as a free-floating particle,” explained Brookhaven
link up nanoparticles scientists at the physicist Oleg Gang, who led the research at the
US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lab’s Centre for Functional Nanomaterials. This
Brookhaven National Laboratory is because the support surface blocks about half
nanofabrication have designed a molecular assembly line for of the particle’s reactive surface. Attaching a DNA
technology that could
predictable, high-precision nano-construction. linker or other particle that specifically interacts
revolutionise how
Such reliable, reproducible nanofabrication is with the bound particle then allows for the
sensing and detection
essential for exploiting the unique properties of rational assembly of desired particle clusters.
technologies operate.
nanoparticles in applications such as biological “By controlling the number of DNA linkers
Sean Ottewell explains.
sensors. The work was published online in the 29 and their length, we can regulate interparticle
March issue of Nature Materials. distances and a cluster’s architecture,” said
Aux États-Unis, des
The Brookhaven team has previously Gang. “Together with the high specificity of DNA
scientifiques ont
used DNA to link up nanoparticles in various interactions, this surface-anchored technique
effectué une percée arrangements, including 3D nano-crystals. permits precise assembly of nano-objects into
avec une technologie de
The idea is that nanoparticles coated with more complex structures.”
nanofabrication à base
complementary strands of DNA - segments of Instead of assembling millions and millions
d’ADN qui pourrait bien
genetic code sequence that bind only with one of nanoparticles into 3D nanocrystals, as was
révolutionner la façon
dont fonctionnent les
another like highly specific Velcro - help the done in the previous work, this technique allows
technologies d’exploration
nanoparticles find and stick to one another in the assembly of much smaller structures from
et de détection. Les
highly specific ways. individual particles. In the paper, the scientists
explications de Sean
By varying the use of complementary DNA describe the details for producing symmetrical,
Ottewell. and strands that do not match, scientists can two-particle linkages, known as dimers (Fig. 1),
exert precision control over the attractive and as well as small, asymmetrical clusters of
➠
repulsive forces between
Wissenschaftler in
the nanoparticles to achieve
den USA haben einen
the desired construction.
Durchbruch bei den
Nanofertigungsverfahren
Note that the short DNA
auf DNA-Basis erreicht,
linker strands used in these
der die Funktionsweise
studies were constructed
von Erkennungs- und
artificially in the laboratory
Nachweisverfahren and do not code for any
grundlegend verändern
proteins, as genes do.
könnte. Ein Bericht von
The latest advance
Sean Ottewell.
has been to use the DNA
linkers to attach some of the
DNA-coated nanoparticles
to a solid surface to further
constrain and control how
the nanoparticles can link
up. This yields even greater
precision, and therefore
a more predictable,
reproducible high-
throughput construction
technique for building
clusters from nanoparticles.
“When a particle is
attached to a support
surface, it cannot react Fig. 1. This transmission electron micrograph shows nanoparticle
with other molecules or dimers (two-particle clusters) assembled and released through the
particles in the same way DNA-encoded solid-support approach.
www.scientistlive.com
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