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Charge transfer is investigated by attaching a gold support and a Nile Blue redox probe at opposite ends. Perinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature Chem doi:10.1038.nchem.982 2011. investigated charge transfer in a 15 base pair DNA strand, a 15-mer, which they used to bridge a carbon nanotube gap, with promising results. They have now produced a 100-mer through piecewise syntheses which can be attached to a gold surface at one end and to which a probe can be attached at the other. 100 base pairs is close to the persistent length of DNA strands in aqueous solution so is a natural length with which to work. Electrochemical tests demonstrated that charge transfer occurs through the DNA nanowires. Importantly, they found that a single base pair mismatch in the DNA reduces the flow of electrons significantly, which might be exploited in sensors. Charge transfer through DNA depends on the stacking of the bases. Any small perturbation in stacking turns off the charge transfer. Thats what happens, albeit subtly, with a mismatch, Barton told Materials Today. Thats really the source of some of the conflicting results in the past. As such, Barton believes that the teams DNA wires might best be used as an electronic sensor for mismatches (mutations) and protein binding. The fact that one mismatch in the 100-mer is enough to turn off charge transfer underscores the point, Barton adds. We are now working on whether this sensing may be used within the cell by repair proteins to sense DNA damage.
David Bradley
The final metamaterial is free standing and extremely flexible. Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature 470, 369, 2011. consists of an I shaped metallic patch embedded in a dielectric material (polyimide). By placing the patches close together they can interact like capacitors; in the presence of THz radiation charge can accumulate on each arm, producing a large electric polarization and so raising the permittivity.
Stewart Bland
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