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      Carbon nanotube–liposome supramolecular nanotrains for intelligent molecular-transport systems

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          Abstract

          Biological network systems, such as inter- and intra-cellular signalling systems, are handled in a sophisticated manner by the transport of molecular information. Over the past few decades, there has been a growing interest in the development of synthetic molecular-transport systems. However, several key technologies have not been sufficiently realized to achieve optimum performance of transportation methods. Here we show that a new type of supramolecular system comprising of carbon nanotubes and liposomes enables the directional transport and controlled release of carrier molecules, and allows an enzymatic reaction at a desired area. The study highlights important progress that has been made towards the development of biomimetic molecular-transport systems and various lab-on-a-chip applications, such as medical diagnosis, sensors, bionic computers and artificial biological networks.

          Abstract

          There is growing interest in the development of artificial molecular-transport systems. Miyako et al. develop a supramolecular system consisting of carbon nanotubes and liposomes that allows the directional transport and controlled release of cargo molecules.

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          Most cited references19

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          Electrically driven directional motion of a four-wheeled molecule on a metal surface.

          Propelling single molecules in a controlled manner along an unmodified surface remains extremely challenging because it requires molecules that can use light, chemical or electrical energy to modulate their interaction with the surface in a way that generates motion. Nature's motor proteins have mastered the art of converting conformational changes into directed motion, and have inspired the design of artificial systems such as DNA walkers and light- and redox-driven molecular motors. But although controlled movement of single molecules along a surface has been reported, the molecules in these examples act as passive elements that either diffuse along a preferential direction with equal probability for forward and backward movement or are dragged by an STM tip. Here we present a molecule with four functional units--our previously reported rotary motors--that undergo continuous and defined conformational changes upon sequential electronic and vibrational excitation. Scanning tunnelling microscopy confirms that activation of the conformational changes of the rotors through inelastic electron tunnelling propels the molecule unidirectionally across a Cu(111) surface. The system can be adapted to follow either linear or random surface trajectories or to remain stationary, by tuning the chirality of the individual motor units. Our design provides a starting point for the exploration of more sophisticated molecular mechanical systems with directionally controlled motion.
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            Motion-based DNA detection using catalytic nanomotors.

            Synthetic nanomotors, which convert chemical energy into autonomous motion, hold considerable promise for diverse applications. In this paper, we show the use of synthetic nanomotors for detecting DNA and bacterial ribosomal RNA in a fast, simple and sensitive manner. The new motion-driven DNA-sensing concept relies on measuring changes in the speed of unmodified catalytic nanomotors induced by the dissolution of silver nanoparticle tags captured in a sandwich DNA hybridization assay. The concentration-dependent distance signals are visualized using optical microscopy, particularly through straight-line traces by magnetically aligned 'racing' nanomotors. This nanomotor biodetection strategy could be extended to monitor a wide range of biomolecular interactions using different motion transduction schemes, thus providing a versatile and powerful tool for detecting biological targets.
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              Microoxen: microorganisms to move microscale loads.

              It is difficult to harness the power generated by biological motors to carry out mechanical work in systems outside the cell. Efforts to capture the mechanical energy of nanomotors ex vivo require in vitro reconstitution of motor proteins and, often, protein engineering. This study presents a method for harnessing the power produced by biological motors that uses intact cells. The unicellular, biflagellated algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii serve as "microoxen." This method uses surface chemistry to attach loads (1- to 6-microm-diameter polystyrene beads) to cells, phototaxis to steer swimming cells, and photochemistry to release loads. These motile microorganisms can transport microscale loads (3-microm-diameter beads) at velocities of approximately 100-200 microm.sec(-1) and over distances as large as 20 cm.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Nat Commun
                Nat Commun
                Nature Communications
                Nature Pub. Group
                2041-1723
                27 November 2012
                : 3
                : 1226
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Health Research Institute (HRI), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) , 1-8-31 Midorigaoka, Ikeda, Osaka 563-0026, Japan
                [2 ]Department of Applied Chemistry, Osaka Prefecture University , 1-1 Gakuen-cho, Naka-ku, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531, Japan
                Author notes
                Article
                ncomms2233
                10.1038/ncomms2233
                3514502
                23187626
                dad7b559-1e43-4a29-8a0e-c93d60533e4e
                Copyright © 2012, Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved.

                This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

                History
                : 06 March 2012
                : 29 October 2012
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