A DNA turbine powered by a transmembrane potential across a nanopore

Rotary motors play key roles in energy transduction, from macroscale windmills to nanoscale turbines such as ATP synthase in cells. Despite our abilities to construct engines at many scales, developing functional synthetic turbines at the nanoscale has remained challenging. Here, we experimentally demonstrate rationally designed nanoscale DNA origami turbines with three chiral blades. These DNA nanoturbines are 24–27 nm in height and diameter and can utilize transmembrane electrochemical potentials across nanopores to drive DNA bundles into sustained unidirectional rotations of up to 10 revolutions s−1. The rotation direction is set by the designed chirality of the turbine. All-atom molecular dynamics simulations show how hydrodynamic flows drive this turbine. At high salt concentrations, the rotation direction of turbines with the same chirality is reversed, which is explained by a change in the anisotropy of the electrophoretic mobility. Our artificial turbines operate autonomously in physiological conditions, converting energy from naturally abundant electrochemical potentials into mechanical work. The results open new possibilities for engineering active robotics at the nanoscale.BN/Cees Dekker LabRST/Storage of Electrochemical Energ

A nanopore-powered DNA turbine

Rotary motors play a key role in the transduction of energy, from macroscale windmills to nanoscale turbines such as ATP synthase in cells. Here, we demonstrate a rationally designed nanoscale DNA-origami turbine with three chiral blades that uses a transmembrane electrochemical potential across a nanopore to drive a DNA bundle into sustained unidirectional rotations of ~10 revolutions/s. All-atom molecular-dynamics simulations show how 20 hydrodynamic flows drive this turbine. The rotation direction is set by the designed chirality of the turbine, whereas at high salt concentrations, DNA-bound ions can reverse the flow and hence the rotation direction. Our artificial turbines operate autonomously in physiological conditions and convert energy from naturally abundant electrochemical potentials into mechanical work. The results open new possibilities for engineering active robotics at the nanoscale