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Long-range charge transport in single G-quadruplex DNA molecules

Nature Nanotechnology volume 9, pages 1040–1046 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

DNA and DNA-based polymers are of interest in molecular electronics because of their versatile and programmable structures. However, transport measurements have produced a range of seemingly contradictory results due to differences in the measured molecules and experimental set-ups, and transporting significant current through individual DNA-based molecules remains a considerable challenge. Here, we report reproducible charge transport in guanine-quadruplex (G4) DNA molecules adsorbed on a mica substrate. Currents ranging from tens of picoamperes to more than 100 pA were measured in the G4-DNA over distances ranging from tens of nanometres to more than 100 nm. Our experimental results, combined with theoretical modelling, suggest that transport occurs via a thermally activated long-range hopping between multi-tetrad segments of DNA. These results could re-ignite interest in DNA-based wires and devices, and in the use of such systems in the development of programmable circuits.

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Figure 1: Measurement set-up and sample image.
Figure 2: I–V characteristics of BA–G4-DNA.
Figure 3: Reference I–V measurements on dsDNA and SWCNT.
Figure 4: The hopping transport model.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank E. Mastov, T. Dagan, J. Ghabboun, J. Gomez-Herrero, I. Lapides, D. Evplov, D. Park, V. Gutkin, I. Brodsky, E. Molinari, A. Garbesi, R. Rohs, D. N. Beratan, A. Nitzan and T. Milledge for technical support and discussions. Ab initio computations were performed using the Duke Shared Cluster Resource. This work was supported by the European Commission through grants ‘DNA-based nanowires’ (IST–2001-38951), ‘DNA-based nanodevices’ (FP6-029192) and FP7-ERC 226628, by the European Science Foundation COST MP0802, the Israel Science Foundation (1145/10 and 1589/14), Binational Science Foundation (BSF) grant 2006422, the Minerva Center for Bio-Hybrid complex systems, the Institute for Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Italian Institute of Technology project MOPROSURF, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena, the Office of Naval Research (award no. N00014-09-1-1117) and the National Science Foundation (grant CHE-1057953). D.P. thanks the Etta and Paul Schankerman Chair of Molecular Biomedicine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Chemistry and The Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel

    Gideon I. Livshits, Avigail Stern, Dvir Rotem & Danny Porath

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and Center of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, 69978, Israel

    Natalia Borovok, Gennady Eidelshtein & Alexander B. Kotlyar

  3. Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, 27708, North Carolina, USA

    Agostino Migliore

  4. School of Chemistry, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel

    Agostino Migliore

  5. Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, 200 Mudd Building, 500 West 120th Street, Columbia University, New York, 10027, USA

    Erika Penzo & Shalom J. Wind

  6. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 90089, California, USA

    Rosa Di Felice

  7. Center S3, CNR Institute of Nanoscience, Via Campi 213/A, Modena, 41125, Italy

    Rosa Di Felice

  8. Department of Physics, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, 1678, Cyprus

    Spiros S. Skourtis

  9. Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, E-28049, Spain

    Juan Carlos Cuevas

  10. Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, Aalborg University, Skjernvej 4A, Aalborg, DK-9220, Denmark

    Leonid Gurevich

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  1. Gideon I. Livshits
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Contributions

D.P. and G.I.L. conceived and designed the reported research. G.I.L. prepared the samples and performed the cAFM experiments, assisted by A.S., D.R. and L.G. A.B.K., N.B. and G.E. designed and synthesized the G4-DNA molecules. S.J.W. and E.P. provided ssDNA-wrapped SWCNTs. J.C.C. and S.S.S. formulated the hopping model for the reported data, proposed by D.P. J.C.C. and G.I.L. fitted the data. J.C.C., S.S.S., A.M., R.D.F., G.I.L. and D.P. analysed the data. A.M. and R.D.F. conducted molecular dynamics simulations and DFT calculations for the G4-DNA structural and electrical properties. All authors discussed the results. G.I.L., J.C.C., R.D.F., S.S.S. and D.P. wrote the manuscript, assisted by all authors.

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Correspondence to Alexander B. Kotlyar or Danny Porath.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Livshits, G., Stern, A., Rotem, D. et al. Long-range charge transport in single G-quadruplex DNA molecules. Nature Nanotech 9, 1040–1046 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2014.246

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