IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v9y2018i1d10.1038_s41467-018-04821-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A synthetic enzyme built from DNA flips 107 lipids per second in biological membranes

Author

Listed:
  • Alexander Ohmann

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Chen-Yu Li

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Christopher Maffeo

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Kareem Al Nahas

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Kevin N. Baumann

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Kerstin Göpfrich

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Jejoong Yoo

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Ulrich F. Keyser

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Aleksei Aksimentiev

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Abstract

Mimicking enzyme function and increasing performance of naturally evolved proteins is one of the most challenging and intriguing aims of nanoscience. Here, we employ DNA nanotechnology to design a synthetic enzyme that substantially outperforms its biological archetypes. Consisting of only eight strands, our DNA nanostructure spontaneously inserts into biological membranes by forming a toroidal pore that connects the membrane’s inner and outer leaflets. The membrane insertion catalyzes spontaneous transport of lipid molecules between the bilayer leaflets, rapidly equilibrating the lipid composition. Through a combination of microscopic simulations and fluorescence microscopy we find the lipid transport rate catalyzed by the DNA nanostructure exceeds 107 molecules per second, which is three orders of magnitude higher than the rate of lipid transport catalyzed by biological enzymes. Furthermore, we show that our DNA-based enzyme can control the composition of human cell membranes, which opens new avenues for applications of membrane-interacting DNA systems in medicine.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander Ohmann & Chen-Yu Li & Christopher Maffeo & Kareem Al Nahas & Kevin N. Baumann & Kerstin Göpfrich & Jejoong Yoo & Ulrich F. Keyser & Aleksei Aksimentiev, 2018. "A synthetic enzyme built from DNA flips 107 lipids per second in biological membranes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-04821-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04821-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04821-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-018-04821-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-04821-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.