In the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf Institute (Germany) a group of scientists led by Bezu Teschome and Artur Erbe managed to find a method of applying a gold coating on nanowires made of human DNA segments. Using such tiny conductive elements, it will be possible to assemble the most complicated schemes of a genetic computer consisting of one or a plexus of several long DNA molecules and connect them to various human organs. According to scientists, the main advantage of using DNA is that with its help you can create complex schemes at the nanoscale level. Creation of fundamentally innovative schemes at the nanoscale level is possible due to DNA origi technology, which allows you to create complex spatial structures
through a controlled and programmable self-assembly process. This technology was developed by the scientists from the United States in the early 2000s, and it uses an unraveled reference DNA molecule, along which the second molecule is formed from a set of short sections. Managing the sequence of assembling a long DNA molecule from short lengths is done by adding ions of certain chemical elements to the solution, as well as controlling the temperature of the solution. The use of precise control of the parameters of the assembly process will allow us to create two- and three-dimensional objects of any complex shape from DNA.
In this case, scientists have created a kind of nanotube from DNA (Bezu Teschome). These nanotubes are so tiny that their length does not exceed 30 nanometers!!! (For comparison, the size of the red blood cell of the erythrocyte is 7000 nanometers, and the Ebola virus is 1500 nanometers long and 50 nanometers wide). With the help of molecules of certain chemical compounds, scientists arranged gold nanoparticles along the nanotubes, which were “welded” with each other with the help of gold ions. Gold works very well in conjunction with molecules of many organic compounds, including DNA molecules. But gold-plated DNA was a part of the solution. It turned out to be harder to connect all this with external electrodes, through which electric current can be supplied to the resulting nanowire. Using a high-precision microscope, scientists determined the position of the ends of the nanowire. Using a different technology, they brought electrodes to the ends of this nanowire, the dimensions of which are in the tens of nanometers. In the process of connecting to the ends of the nanowire by deposition additional material on them, these electrodes increased in size to the micron scale, which greatly enhanced the convenience of connecting measuring equipment to them. After measurements, scientists determined that gold DNA nanowires are capable of conducting electric current large enough for their size force. In the future, scientists are going to develop a technology for creating conductors with a complex structure that have several branches, by which to combine a large number of components made from the same DNA molecules (see Innovative Artifact 00007 "BIONIK").
