Patent ID: 6696285
Filing Date: 2004-02-24
Classification: B82Y,C07B,C12Q

Abstract:
A nanomachine having alternative configurations, comprising:(a) a first molecular structure comprising a first oligomer strand the first oligomer strand coupled to a first portion of a molecular device; (b) a second molecular structure comprising a second oligomer strand the second oligomer strand coupled to a second portion of the molecular device; (c) a flexible linker moiety, one end of which is attached to the first molecular structure and the other end of which is attached to the second molecular structure; and (d) a third oligomer strand comprising: (i) a first subunit sequence that is hybridized to the first oligomer strand, (ii) a second subunit sequence that is hybridized to the second oligomer strand, (iii) a third, single-stranded subunit sequence that is not complementary to either the first or the second oligomer strand, and is configured to serve as a nucleation site for hybridization of the third oligomer strand to a fourth oligomer strand that is complementary to the third oligomer strand; wherein hybridization of the third oligomer strand to the first and second oligomer strands produces a force capable of moving the first and second portions of the molecular device closer to each other and; wherein hybridization of the fourth oligomer strand to the third oligomer strand is capable of causing dehybridization of the third oligomer strand from the nanomachine, resulting in a force capable of moving the first and second portions of the molecular device farther apart from each other.