RNA Polymerase Motors Open Doors for Autonomous Molecular Experiments

Using RNA polymerase (RNAP), the enzyme that relays the information contained within DNA to the cell's protein-making machineries, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a molecular tool for propelling DNA. The work, according to the researchers, demonstrates the ability to precisely control the motion of billions of DNA molecules at once and, through external stimuli, confer autonomous decision-making that sets the stage for massive, but greatly miniaturized experimental systems.

The DNA-RNAP motor complex exhibits chemokinetic motion driven by nucleotide triphosphates, the substrate of the RNAP enzyme. The complex also displays biased migration to area with greater concentration of nucleotide triphosphates, somewhat akin to chemotaxis.

"This lays the basis for experiments that configure themselves and operate themselves," says David C. Schwartz lead author of the study. "It will be possible to design intelligent systems to do billions of experiments at once". The technology described by the UW-Madison scientists can replace the robots used to perform lab experiments. "Biotechnology robots dumbly move samples around," explains Schwartz. "Here, we have intelligent agents that are single molecules - they can make decisions and they can evolve. We have something very new and powerful and miniature."

The complete news article is available at http://www.news.wisc.edu/releases/15228 Download the paper published by the Journal of the American Chemical Society at http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja900372m