scholarly journals DNA-assembled nanoarchitectures with multiple components in regulated and coordinated motion

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. eaax6023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pengfei Zhan ◽  
Maximilian J. Urban ◽  
Steffen Both ◽  
Xiaoyang Duan ◽  
Anton Kuzyk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Building Blocks ◽  
Dna Origami ◽  
Joint Motion ◽  
Coordinated Motion ◽  
Gold Nanocrystals ◽  
Multiple Components ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Gear Trains ◽  
Biological Entities

Coordinating functional parts to operate in concert is essential for machinery. In gear trains, meshed gears are compactly interlocked, working together to impose rotation or translation. In photosynthetic systems, a variety of biological entities in the thylakoid membrane interact with each other, converting light energy into chemical energy. However, coordinating individual parts to carry out regulated and coordinated motion within an artificial nanoarchitecture poses challenges, owing to the requisite control on the nanoscale. Here, we demonstrate DNA-directed nanosystems, which comprise hierarchically-assembled DNA origami filaments, fluorophores, and gold nanocrystals. These individual building blocks can execute independent, synchronous, or joint motion upon external inputs. These are optically monitored in situ using fluorescence spectroscopy, taking advantage of the sensitive distance-dependent interactions between the gold nanocrystals and fluorophores positioned on the DNA origami. Our work leverages the complexity of DNA-based artificial nanosystems with tailored dynamic functionality, representing a viable route towards technomimetic nanomachinery.

Switchable supracolloidal 3D DNA origami nanotubes mediated through fuel/antifuel reactions

Nanoscale ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (32) ◽  
pp. 16995-17004
Author(s):  
Saskia Groeer ◽  
Andreas Walther
Keyword(s):  
Building Blocks ◽  
Dna Origami ◽  
Strand Displacement

3D DNA origami-based building blocks assemble reversibly to supracolloidal nanotubes using toehold-mediated strand displacement as probed by imaging and in situ FRET measurements.

Laboratory and in-situ analysis of comet dust

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 8-9
Author(s):  
D.E. Brownlee ◽  
A.L. Albee
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Laboratory Study ◽  
Isotopic Analysis ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Sem Analysis ◽  
Early Solar System ◽  
Cometary Material ◽  
Comet Dust

Comets are primitive, kilometer-sized bodies that formed in the outer regions of the solar system. Composed of ice and dust, comets are generally believed to be relic building blocks of the outer solar system that have been preserved at cryogenic temperatures since the formation of the Sun and planets. The analysis of cometary material is particularly important because the properties of cometary material provide direct information on the processes and environments that formed and influenced solid matter both in the early solar system and in the interstellar environments that preceded it.The first direct analyses of proven comet dust were made during the Soviet and European spacecraft encounters with Comet Halley in 1986. These missions carried time-of-flight mass spectrometers that measured mass spectra of individual micron and smaller particles. The Halley measurements were semi-quantitative but they showed that comet dust is a complex fine-grained mixture of silicates and organic material. A full understanding of comet dust will require detailed morphological, mineralogical, elemental and isotopic analysis at the finest possible scale. Electron microscopy and related microbeam techniques will play key roles in the analysis. The present and future of electron microscopy of comet samples involves laboratory study of micrometeorites collected in the stratosphere, in-situ SEM analysis of particles collected at a comet and laboratory study of samples collected from a comet and returned to the Earth for detailed study.

Capabilities

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul F. M. J. Verschure
Keyword(s):  
Building Blocks ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
System Level ◽  
Cognitive Architectures ◽  
Multiple Components ◽  
Perception Action

This chapter introduces the “Capabilities” section of the Handbook of Living Machines. Where the previous section considered building blocks, we recognize that components or modules do not automatically make systems. Hence, in the remainder of this handbook, the emphasis is toward the capabilities of living systems and their emulation in artifacts. Capabilities often arise from the integration of multiple components and thus sensitize us to the need to develop a system-level perspective on living machines. Here we summarize and consider the 14 contributions in this section which cover perception, action, cognition, communication, and emotion, and the integration of these through cognitive architectures into systems that can emulate the full gamut of integrated behaviors seen in animals including, potentially, our own capacity for consciousness.

scholarly journals Exploring Cu/Al cluster growth and reactivity: from embryonic building blocks to intermetalloid, open-shell superatoms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Schütz ◽  
Christian Gemel ◽  
Maximilian Muhr ◽  
Christian Jandl ◽  
Samia Kahlal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Closed Shell ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Open Shell ◽  
Cluster Growth ◽  
Powerful Technique

Cu/Al cluster growth reactions leading to open- and closed-shell superatoms are investigated. Therein, LIFDI-MS is presented as a powerful technique for the in situ detection of cluster identities and reactivity patterns.

scholarly journals Nanomechanics of self-assembled DNA building blocks

Nanoscale ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Penth ◽  
Kordula Schellnhuber ◽  
Roland Bennewitz ◽  
Johanna Blass
Keyword(s):  
Structural Dynamics ◽  
Force Spectroscopy ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Dna Origami ◽  
Self Assembled ◽  
High Flexibility

Massive parallel force spectroscopy reveals a surprisingly high flexibility for DNA constructs used in DNA origami. The high flexibility is attributed to the structural dynamics of DNA self-assemblies.

scholarly journals A Structurally Variable Hinged Tetrahedron Framework from DNA Origami

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Smith ◽  
Verena Schüller ◽  
Carsten Forthmann ◽  
Robert Schreiber ◽  
Philip Tinnefeld ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Gel Electrophoresis ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Dna Origami ◽  
Microscopy Technique ◽  
Wire Frame ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Linker Molecules

Nanometer-sized polyhedral wire-frame objects hold a wide range of potential applications both as structural scaffolds as well as a basis for synthetic nanocontainers. The utilization of DNA as basic building blocks for such structures allows the exploitation of bottom-up self-assembly in order to achieve molecular programmability through the pairing of complementary bases. In this work, we report on a hollow but rigid tetrahedron framework of 75 nm strut length constructed with the DNA origami method. Flexible hinges at each of their four joints provide a means for structural variability of the object. Through the opening of gaps along the struts, four variants can be created as confirmed by both gel electrophoresis and direct imaging techniques. The intrinsic site addressability provided by this technique allows the unique targeted attachment of dye and/or linker molecules at any point on the structure's surface, which we prove through the superresolution fluorescence microscopy technique DNA PAINT.

Systematic Synthesis and Applications of Novel Multi-Degree-of-Freedom Differential Systems

1992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sridhar Kota ◽  
Srinivas Bidare
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Degree Of Freedom ◽  
Differential Systems ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Epicyclic Gear ◽  
Differential Mechanism ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Gear Trains ◽  
Drive Systems

Abstract A two-degree-of-freedom differential system has been known for a long time and is widely used in automotive drive systems. Although higher degree-of-freedom differential systems have been developed in the past based on the well-known standard differential, the number of degrees-of-freedom has been severely restricted to 2n. Using a standard differential mechanism and simple epicyclic gear trains as differential building blocks, we have developed novel whiffletree-like differential systems that can provide n-degrees of freedom, where n is any integer greater than two. Symbolic notation for representing these novel differentials is also presented. This paper presents a systematic method of deriving multi-degree-of-freedom differential systems, a three and four output differential systems and some of their practical applications.

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