Offenbartl-Stiegert D, Rottensteiner A, Dorey A, Howorka S. A Light-Triggered Synthetic Nanopore for Controlling Molecular Transport Across Biological Membranes.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2022;
61:e202210886. [PMID:
36318092 PMCID:
PMC10098474 DOI:
10.1002/anie.202210886]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Controlling biological molecular processes with light is of interest in biological research and biomedicine, as light allows precise and selective activation in a non-invasive and non-toxic manner. A molecular process benefitting from light control is the transport of cargo across biological membranes, which is conventionally achieved by membrane-puncturing barrel-shaped nanopores. Yet, there is also considerable gain in constructing more complex gated pores. Here, we pioneer a synthetic light-gated nanostructure which regulates transport across membranes via a controllable lid. The light-triggered nanopore is self-assembled from six pore-forming DNA strands and a lid strand carrying light-switchable azobenzene molecules. Exposure to light opens the pore to allow small-molecule transport across membranes. Our light-triggered pore advances biomimetic chemistry and DNA nanotechnology and may be used in biotechnology, biosensing, targeted drug release, or synthetic cells.
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