The EcoR124I molecular motor is a DNA translocase. It
attaches to DNA at a specific site (GAAnnnnnnRTCG
- shown as a yellow cylinder in the movie) and 'pulls' the adjacent
DNA through the bound complex, following the helical thread of the DNA,
which will 'spin' an object attached to the DNA
(illustrated by attaching a cube to the end of the DNA in this movie).
This produces a bionanoactuator, where
the DNA can easily be surface attached - say at the left of the picture -
and the nanoactuator pulls an object attached to the DNA toward that
surface.
A surface attached DNA molecule, with a single binding site
for the EcoR124I molecular motor, is stretched vertically by means of the
magnetic bead attached at the far end of the DNA molecule, which in turn
is held in an external magnetic field. The EcoR124I molecular motor
attaches to the DNA and pulls the bead until dissociation of the motor
subunit releases the DNA and the process can repeat.
Device Prototypes:
Nanoactuator (expanded version of
animation below).
This animation shows the proposed
single-molecule reporting system (incorporating the nanoactuator).
In this system the Hall Effect Sensors are shown red when the magnetic
bead is moving toward them to indicate generation of an electrical signal.
