 |
| The motif of self replicating molecule |
It gives a tool to the scientists to use DNA to create different combinations which are not available in nature. It also opens the mind of the scientists to create nanorobots.
In the natural world, self-replication is ubiquitous in all living entities, but artificial self-replication has been elusive. The discovery in Nature reports the first steps toward a general process for self-replication of a wide variety of arbitrarily designed seeds. The seeds are made from DNA tile motifs that serve as letters arranged to spell out a particular word. The replication process preserves the letter sequence and the shape of the seed and hence the information required to produce further generations. This process holds much promise for the creation of new materials. DNA is a robust functional entity that can organize itself and other molecules into complex structures. More recently DNA has been used to organize inorganic matter, such as metallic particles, as well. The re-creation by the New York University scientists of this type of assembly in a laboratory raises the prospect for the eventual development of self-replicating materials that possess a wide range of patterns and that can perform a variety of functions. The breakthrough the New York University researchers have achieved is the replication of a system that contains complex information. Thus, the replication of this material, like that of DNA in the cell, is not limited to repeating patterns.
 |
| the tiles used as DNA motifs |
To be more instance the researchers created artificial DNA motifs-short nanometre -scale arrangements of DNA Each tile serves as a letter—A or B—that recognizes and binds to complementary letters A’ or B’ which is similar to the between bases—adenine (A) pairs with thymine (T) and guanine (G) pairs with cytosine (C)—to form its familiar double helix. By using this similar matchings the new york university researchers developed an artificial tile or motif, called BTX (bent triple helix molecules containing three DNA double helices), with each BTX molecule comprised of 10 DNA strands. Unlike DNA, the BTX code is not limited to four letters—in principle, it can contain quadrillions of different letters and tiles that pair using the complementarity of four DNA single strands, or “sticky ends,” on each tile, to form a six-helix bundle.In order to achieve self-replication process of the BTX tile arrays, a seed word is needed to catalyze multiple generations of identical arrays. BTX’s seed consists of a sequence of seven tiles i.e a seven letter word. After this the seed is placed in a chemical solution, where it combines with the complementary tiles forming “daughter BTX array”—a complementary word. The daughter array is then separated from the seed by heating the solution to ~ 40 degree Celsius. The process is again repeated till the daughter array binds with its complementary tiles to form a “granddaughter array,” thus achieving self-replication of the material and of the information in the seed—and hence reproducing the sequence within the original seed word. This process is more distinct from other the replication processes that occur within the cell, because it is made artificially particular the DNA is even synthetic.
The researchers are not only trying molecules like artificial DNA or RNA but they are also trying to discrete other structures in different shapes and size so that it can have different functional features.This research was also supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the Army Research Office, NASA, and the Office of Naval Research.
[via : Discovery News]
No comments:
Post a Comment