How does a DNA motor turn around a corner on DNA origami?

The development of nanosystems capable of executing both translation and rotation bear the potential to catalyse a transformative shift in the landscape of nanorobotics. DNA origami emerges as a promising technology to realize such system, and our recent demonstration of an autonomous, non-bridge burning DNA bipedal motor, capable of executing both translation and rotation on a triangle DNA origami, attests to the feasibility of this approach [1]. Notably, the motor’s motion is inextricably linked to the system’s nanomechanics. To understand how the nanomechanical factors affect the motor foothold search process, additional fluorescence experiments are performed, and oxDNA, a coarse-grained simulation, is used to extract the underlying free energy profile. The simulation captures several non-trivial experimental observations, including a larger decrease in the plus-end fluorescence data at the corner compared to the linear segment, the dependence of the plus-end fluorescence data to the motor length and the foothold positions around the corner. Based on our findings, we provide suggestions to improve the motor walking performance on DNA origami. Our study reveals the intricate nanomechanical effects of motor-origami performance for complex motion, thus contributing to the advancement of DNA nanorobotics.

[1] Winna Siti, Hon Lin Too, Tommy Anderson, Xiao Rui Liu, Iong Ying Loh, Zhisong Wang. 2023. "Autonomous DNA molecular motor tailor-designed to navigate DNA origami surface for fast complex motion and advanced nanorobotics." Science Advances 9(38), eadi8444.