DNA-based nanoscale walking devices and their applications

Abstract

The rapidly growing field of nanodevices is attracting more and more attention on account of their ingenious design and broad application. Taking advantage of the sequence specificity and excellent programmability of DNA molecules, numerous DNA devices with multiple functions have been designed and fabricated such as tweezers, gears, cranes and so on. DNA walking devices are the most sophisticated ones either in design or fabrication. They exhibit a powerful ability to actuate walkers walking on their tracks. Herein we review DNA walking devices based on walking functions including unipedal, bipedal, multipedal, and other novel walking devices, as well as their applications.