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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!
I knew my DNA had to be a pyramid.
It is more in line with my shape, gets wider the farther you go down!
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
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.
...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".
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