Slashdot Mirror
Self-Assembling DNA Pyramids
FleaPlus writes "Physicists in England and the Netherlands have unveiled a technique for constructing rigid DNA pyramids. With the technique, trillions of d4's can rapidly self-assemble from a solution of single-stranded DNA. The scientists also showed that single DNA strands called linkers could be used to attach the tetrahedra to each other, acting as a possible building block for 3D nanofabrication."
Since the article summary doesn't even begin to explain why this is significant, I'll attempt to.
First of all, the DNA pyramids are useful because they have some attractive properties, namely they are about 10 nanometers wide and are rigid. They are also tetrahedral in shapre (3 faces and a base) which makes them good building blocks. This all lends itself rather nicely to developing things like three dimensional electronic circuits.
Today's announcement is simply to say that scientists have fonud a way to do this all in a single step by mixing trillions of the base strands in a mixture to produce the mini-pyramids. However, what is really needed moving forward, is a way to bind all of these pyramids into more complex structures. For more information, check out the article on PhysicsWeb
Man those D&D games are getting complicated!
Oh... nevermind
---
Let my nucleotides go!
So the real builders oof the pyramids are nonfrabricators. The Egyptians grew them instead of using slave labor to drag blocks into place or getting help from UFOs.
Nanu Nanu (obligatory Mork and Mindy reference).
I knew my DNA had to be a pyramid.
It is more in line with my shape, gets wider the farther you go down!
trillions of d4's can rapidly self-assemble from a solution of single-stranded DNA
In other news, several cheerleaders who were interviewed stated that they were skeptical as pyramids in general are "way hard." They also stated that they doubted the numbers claimed as the largest pyramid they had heard of was composed of 280 or so cheerleaders and that a trillion is "like at least double that."
Just as soon as you send $1.00 each to the following people, then place your name on the top of the list and delete the last name from the bottom of the list! It's that simple and totally legal!*
* In Antarctica
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Should I be more embarrassed that I get my news from a source that calls tetrahedra "d4s", or that I immediately knew what that meant?
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
That's certainly true - Ned Seeman is definitely the 'founding father' of the field, and has lab continues to be a driving force in this sort of research. However, while I'm not exactly an objective observer, I believe this paper offers a number of practical advances in the field, such as yield, ease of synthesis, rigidity, and adaptability.
it has little if any practical value; dna is VERY $$, and a delicate molecule that is destroyed by normal shipping temperatures (at least in tuscon)
This simply isn't true. DNA is shipped all over the place at room T (we ordered the DNA for this experiment from America), and in lyophilised form is very stable. It's less stable in solution, but you can make modifications to increase its stability. DNA tetrahedra in my experience are very stable. As for cost, you can buy the DNA for this kind of synthesis relatively cheaply, and DNA gets cheaper every year.
Highly advanced scientists in the field of cloning do it asexually.
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
...entire self-assembling DNA-based organisms. Scientists are working hard on the technology, but research is hampered by a mysterious and poorly understood preliminary stage called "sex".
Making a blanket statement like "DNA is a delicate molecule" or "this will never be useful" is not necessarily correct. It is more correct to say "DNA can be delicate in the wrong conditions" and "this does not have applications, yet." Now, will we overcome the cost of synthesizing DNA? Perhaps. The cost of DNA synthesizing oligonucletides (15-20bp) has dropped dramatically in the last few years. Now will this be useful in making nano-toaster ovens or other more "industrial" tech? Probably not, but neither article really proposes anything like that. Also DNA is a lot less expensive than certain chemicals that are used in trace amounts in all sorts of tech and industrial applications. The field really seems to be wide open.
Ned Seeman's work is slightly different but along the exact same lines. Also, of course he has been doing it for years! A lot of people have been working on this for years. The scientific community is all for competition. Simply because Dr. Seeman has been working on this doesn't somehow invalidate this study. People have also been working on broadband over powerlines for several years. Is that now "old non news?"
This is awesome, I accidentally produced something that I suspect is very similar to this no more than 8 months ago using DNA to self-assemble gold nanoparticles. The pictures are gorgeous (but inconclusive, unfortunately). http://web.mit.edu/neltnerb/www/bn-triangles-1.jpg
http://web.mit.edu/neltnerb/www/bn-triangles-2.jpg
Sorry, I have no particular desire to register an account here for my very rare posts.
And Kuna, don't laugh. I promise, I'm not a total dork. But DNA self assembly is still cool.
THANK YOU for your submission of a new
[x] nanostructure
[ ] laser
[ ] transistor
using
[ ] straw and bailing wire
[x] DNA strands
[ ] silicon
This is a bad idea, because
[x] a 3-D structure is difficult to heat-sink
[x] scientists likely never will produce a transistor this way
[ ] this is a case of outright fraud
The problem however is not to make circuits
[ ] out of lasers
[x] 3-D
[x] self ordered
But the problem is to make them
[x] reliably
[x] at low cost
[x] faster
Further this article was published in
[ ] Science
[ ] New Scientist
[ ] Nature
[x] Science News
which is primarily a publicity-seeking mag, and not a great peer-reviewed journal for physics.
I can say this because I have a
[ ] BS
[ ] MS
[x] PhD
in
[x] Physics
[ ] Electrical Engineering