MAGAZINE OF THE SOCIE TY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC MAGAZINE OF THE SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC
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Fear of spiders shouldn’t
stop rise of DNA walkers
Among the molecules of life, DNA is
the MVP.
It provides the mechanism for
heredity, the blueprints for proteins
and the recipe for reproduction. It
helps explain evolution and illuminates
the secrets of many dark diseases. And
it gives scientists one of the best tools
and toys available for playing around in the nanoworld.
What better way to manipulate molecules on the scale of
nanometers than enlisting the aid of the master molecule
of life? DNA’s chemical components confer on it a powerful
versatility, rooted in the forces that bind one strand of the
DNA double helix to the other. By exploiting the molecular
links that DNA forges naturally, researchers can now make
DNA perform unnatural acts, such as walking.
In this issue (Page 18), science writer intern Gwyneth
Dickey describes how such nanobotic walkers, or “DNA
spiders,” have begun to crawl around an artificial landscape
(itself constructed of artfully arranged DNA) and how some
can even pick up and transport nanoparticle cargo. Someday, optimistic researchers forecast, more sophisticated
DNA spiders may be able to crawl around within the body,
delivering molecular medicines to diseased cells or assembling nanosized devices for performing cellular surgery. No
doubt DNA’s nanotechnological abilities will also be applied
to making tiny electronic parts for a computer that could fit
inside an eyelash.
But all of this won’t happen in the blink of an eye. It will
take a long time, probably decades, before DNA walkers
perform any of the feats that would make them interesting
to investors. Right now DNA spiders are still in the baby-steps stage. And they don’t even have eight legs yet.
As the researchers point out, though, being far from a goal
is no reason not to walk in that direction. Only by starting
out small can scientists ever hope to achieve DNA’s nanotechnological potential.
Just as the relatively simple DNA molecule is the basis for
the complexities of life, primitive DNA walking skills could
provide the foundational knowledge needed to create future
armies of nanobots. Crews of such tiny devices could be
deployed to patrol a realm too small to let human fingers do
the walking. You might even say that a small step for DNA
really could someday be a giant leap for mankind.
—Tom Siegfried, Editor in Chief
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