New DNA Nanotech Mimics Membrane Channels in Cells

[caption id="attachment_6345" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="This nanodevice is formed by 54 double-helical DNA domains on a honeycomb lattice."][/caption]

Physicists from Technische Universitaet Muenchen and the University of Michigan have shown how to construct synthetic membrane channels from the use of DNA nanotechnology. The DNA based channel is shaped after natural membrane channels in lipid bilayer membranes. "Membrane channels are tube-like structures made of proteins, which pierce the barriers and regulate the two-way exchange of material and information between the inside and outside."-Medical News Today. The device's stem is 42 nanometers long and has a internal diameter of two nanometers. The stem is partly protected by a barrel-like cap that is surrounded by cholestorol units which enables it to bind to the lipid membrane of a cell. Once attached to a cell wall, the stem sticks through and forms a pore. The pores formed from the synthetic membrane channels have electrical conductivity just like ion channels in natural cells and might be able to act like voltage controlled gates. The transmembrane current could be adjusted by changing structural details of the synthetic channels and geometric and chemical tailoring of the membrane channels can also be accomplished by this technology.

This little DNA based device could be used as molecular sensors, antimicrobial agents, and drivers of novel nanodevices. "If you want, for example, to inject something into a cell, you have to find a way to punch a hole into the cell membrane, and this device can do that, at least with model cell membranes," says TUM Prof. Hendrik Dietz, from TUM Institute for Advanced Study. This nanotechnology is also propused to imitate the action of viruses or phages by breaking through the cell walls of targeted bacteria to kill them, used as nano-needles to inject material into cells, and basic studies of cell metabolism. Dietz even said "We might be able to mimic natural ion pumps, transport proteins, and rotary motors like the enzyme responsible for synthesizing ATP".

This artical is excting and marks a new step in the development of nanotechnology. This device created by the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and the University of Michigan has opened many doors to the inside of a cell. In the future I think this device will be able to help prevent and treat illnesses.