Researchers at the University of Montreal have created the world’s smallest antenna for observing the movement of a squirrel. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that DNA was used as a building material. According to an article published in the journal Nature Methods, this device represents a new method for monitoring structural changes in a protein over time, which could help scientists better understand natural and artificial nanotechnology.
More than 40 years ago, researchers invented the first DNA synthesizer to create molecules that encode genetic information. In recent years, chemists have realized that DNA can also be used to create various nanostructures. Inspired by the LEGO-like properties of DNA with building blocks often 20,000 times smaller than a human hair, Canadian scientists have created a DNA-based fluorescent nanoantenna that will characterize the function of proteins.
Similar to two-way radio communications, which allows radio waves to be received and transmitted, the nanoantenna receives light in one color and, depending on the movement of the protein, transmits back light in a different color that can be detected. The peculiarity of such an antenna is that the part of the antenna responsible for receiving the signal is also used to detect the molecular surface of the protein under study through molecular interaction.
According to senior author of the study, Professor Alexis Vallee-Belisle, the advantage of using DNA to create nanoantennas lies in the relatively simple and programmable chemical structure of DNA. Such antennas can be synthesized with various lengths and flexibility. A fluorescent molecule can be easily attached to DNA, and then the nanoantenna can be attached to a biological nanomachine such as an enzyme.
Canadian scientists have succeeded in creating an antenna five nanometers long, it generates a distinct signal when a protein performs its biological function. The results impressed the researchers so much that they are now working to create a startup to commercialize this development.
Fluorescent nanoantennas open up many directions in biochemistry and nanotechnology. For example, for the first time, scientists were able to determine in real time alkaline phosphatase when the enzyme interacts with various biological molecules and drugs. This enzyme is implicated in many diseases and is used as a biomarker to identify various types of bowel cancer and inflammation. Nanoantennas will help chemists identify promising new drugs and can be easily used in many laboratories around the world to create drugs or develop new nanotechnology.
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