Molecular machines and motors articles from across Nature Portfolio

Various methods, using DNA, have been reported for the recording of biomolecular interactions, but most are either destructive in nature or are limited to reporting pairwise interactions. Here the authors develop DNA-based motors, termed ‘crawlers’, that roam around and record their trajectories to allow the examination of molecular environments.

Mass transport at surfaces determines the kinetics of processes such as heterogeneous catalysis and thin-film growth, but our fundamental understanding of the contributions of molecular degrees of freedom to the process remains incomplete. Here, the authors use neutron spectroscopy together with theoretical methods to explain the “rolling” motion of triphenylphosphine adsorbed on exfoliated graphite.

Self-sustainable autonomous soft actuators have emerged as naturally evolving out-of-equilibrium systems that do not require human intervention. Here, the authors discuss recent advances in the field, with a focus on shape-morphing materials, motion characteristics, built-in negative feedback loops, and constant stimulus response patterns.

Inspired by biology, great progress has been made in creating artificial molecular motors. Here the authors report the synthesis and characterization of the Lawnmower, an autonomous, protein-based artificial molecular motor and show their design is capable of track-guided motion.

Smart sensors are important components in the development of touchless human-machine interaction systems. Here, the authors describe a smart 3D porous crystalline organic cage-based system that exhibits remarkable responsiveness to fingertip humidity, contributing to the advancement of touchless human-machine interaction technology.

The nanospace confinement of a magnetic nanoparticle within a porous cage, coupled with an encodable DNA clutch interface, enables a remotely powered and controlled rotary nanomotor that is autoresponsive to its microenvironment.

An encodable DNA clutch with the ability to recognize microenvironmental molecular inputs intelligently complements the remote control of a 200-nm sized magnetic nanomachine. This nanomachine interacts with biological machinery in vitro when the encoded clutch selectively engages the engine with the rotor while external magnetic fields power the rotation.

Engineered ligand shells on gold nanoclusters utilizing molecular motion improve the thermal conductance between the cluster and the solvent, increasing thermal stability and enhancing performance in the photothermal treatment of cancerous tumours.

Intercellular calcium waves (ICW) are mechanosensitive signalling phenomena that coordinate cellular responses in key physiological processes. The force applied by light-activated molecular machines is shown to remotely stimulate ICW. The ICW induced by these molecular machines can be exploited to regulate downstream functions, such as muscle contraction, in vitro and in vivo.

Let’s motor through the fog of molecular machine terminology, not only by defining our own words clearly, but by embracing the coexistence of multiple meanings in a rational and structured manner.

Synthetic stimuli-responsive systems have become increasingly sophisticated and elegant at the nanoscale. This Comment discusses how rationally designed molecular systems capable of dynamic motions can be deployed in macroscopically porous metal–organic frameworks and respond to various stimuli.

Information thermodynamics offers a route to measure how effectively a light-driven molecular machine converts energy from absorbed photons into pumped motion.