Multifunctional, nanoscaffolded machines: A chemical manifesto

For techies — Unless you read Pure Appl. Chem. consistently, you may have missed this paper (pdf): Toward replicatable, multifunctional, nanoscaffolded machines. A chemical manifesto from chemists in Germany. "If one, however, views such constructs as three-dimensionally defined noncovalent nanoscaffolding of a multitude of modular functions whose array is replicatable in a nonautonomous way, many pieces of technology needed for their implementation became recently available." They propose "a scheme for the implementation of a prototype generation of replicatable nanomachines." Read More for a summary of the scheme. "MANIFESTO FOR NANOROBOT IMPLEMENTATION

We propose a scheme for the implementation of a prototype generation of replicatable nanomachines that is based on:

ï noncovalent informational nanoscaffolding and arraying a multitude of modular functions expressed by organic, inorganic, or biological components in a defined 3D arrangement;

ï the self-assembly of such objects from synthetic 3-arm junctions where each arm is a composite/conjugate from an informational molecule such as DNA, RNA, or a synthetic mimic of the latter and an individual functional module;

ï tensegrity and maximal instruction as the keys for nanoarchitectural control;

ï the copying of connectivity information in such junctions as the key for nanomachine replication,

ï the controlled cloning and copying of junctions on the surface of electronically addressable chips by means of a chip variant of the procedure published as ìsurface-promoted replication and exponential amplification of DNA analogsî (SPREAD);

ï the usage of linear conjugates between oligonucleotides and single modular functions as basic construction elements for the fabrication of functionalized 3-arm junctions and the latterís selfassembly into multifunctionalized nanoscaffolded machines;

ï the directed evolution of replicatable nanomachines by a variant of the SELEX-procedure starting from random connectivity information;

ï the usage of such nanomachines for the probing of nanoepitopes on the surfaces of biological cells;

ï the external control of the operation of such nanomachines by GHz radio frequency magnetic field inductive heating of metal clusters attached to such constructs."