JERUSALEM, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- A team of scientists at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science has developed two new types of artificial "active matter" that can move, change shape, and coordinate their motion using DNA, the institute said in a statement on Monday.
The findings, published in Nature Materials and Nature Physics, could help pave the way for programmable smart materials, soft robots, and targeted therapies.
In the first study, the researchers embedded DNA and a cell-free gene expression system within a network of microtubules, tiny, tube-like structures borrowed from cells. The DNA can encode motor proteins that act like molecular motors, generating forces that drive the microtubule network to move, reorganize, and change shape.
By changing the genetic program, the team could control when the material began to move, how quickly it moved, and how it transitioned between mechanical states. They also programmed it to move briefly and stop, and to move in repeated, timed bursts.
In the second study, the researchers added long DNA strands to the microtubule-motor system. The strands were stretched and entangled by the material's own active flows, forming a three-dimensional network that generated steady, millimeter-scale oscillations.
As the network stretched and contracted, different parts of the material moved together in a steady rhythm. The researchers found that the longer and more connected the DNA network became, the stronger and more organized these movements were.
According to the researchers, unlike conventional materials, which typically require external control such as light, magnetic fields, or externally imposed structures, these systems can regulate aspects of their own behavior through internal genetic programming or self-organized mechanical feedback. ■
