Making a Nanoscale Mobius Strip (IMAGE)
Caption
This is the design for the DNA Möbius strip. Single-stranded viral DNA is used as scaffolding and 164 short segments of DNA are used as staple strands, to create the nanostructure. The Möbius form is composed of eleven double helices, assembled in parallel (left). Each double-helical length contains a twist of 180 degrees along its central axis, before it seamlessly reconnects with itself. The central helix, (seen in red) circles around the length of the strip once. The other helices circle twice, while also twisting around the core helix by 180 degrees before reconnecting to close the Möbius loop. (Center) A small segment of the strip with the details of the helices shown. Scaffold strands are seen in blue and staple strands are different colors. To create the Möbius, 20.5 units like this were used, with the precise folding pattern pre-programmed through the design of appropriate nucleotide base-pairing. (Right) Atomic Force Microscopy image.
Credit
Nature Nanotechnology
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