Electronic structure of DNA revealed, claim scientists

Electronic structure of DNA revealed, claim scientists

Amir Ben-Artzi
EE Times Europe
03/04/2008 11:52 AM

NETANYA, Israel — Scientists from Israel, Italy and Germany have claimed to have revealed the electronic structures of DNA molecules, by utilizing a technique that combines low-temperature measurements and theoretical calculations.

The electronic properties of DNA are important in areas ranging from biochemistry to nanotechnology - for example in the study of DNA damage by ultraviolet radiation that may cause the generation of free radicals and genetic mutations. In those cases, it is thought that DNA repair occurs spontaneously via an electronic charge transfer along the DNA helix to restore the damaged molecular bonds.

It has been suggested that DNA, or its derivatives, could be used as the basis for conducting wires in the realization of molecular computing networks which are smaller and more efficient than the integrated circuits produced today with silicon technology.

Researchers said the knowledge acquired in this project may also be relevant for current attempts to develop new sophisticated, reliable, faster and cheaper ways to decode the sequence of human DNA.

The research, published in the journal Nature Materials, is a result of an international collaboration. The research was conducted by Errez Shapir and coordinated by Danny Porath at the Department of Physical Chemistry and Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the Hebrew University and by Rosa Di Felice at the S3 Center of INFM-CNR in Modena, Italy. Also collaborating in the project were Professor Alexander Kotlyar at Tel Aviv University, who synthesized the molecules, the CINECA supercomputing center in Italy, and Professor Gianaurelio Cuniberti at the University of Regensburg, Germany.

The researchers worked with long and homogeneous DNA molecules at minus 195 degrees Celsius, using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to measure the current that passes across a molecule deposited on a gold substrate. Then, by means of theoretical calculations they obtained the electronic structure of DNA corresponding to the measured current.