Formation of Conductive DNA-Based Nanowires via Conjugation of dsDNA with Cationic Peptide

Abstract

A novel conductive DNA-based nanomaterial, DNA-peptide wire, composed of a DNA core and a peripheral peptide layer, is presented. The electrical conductivity of the wire is found to be at least three orders in magnitude higher than that of native double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). High conductivity of the wires along with a better resistance to mechanical deformations caused by interactions between the substrate and electrode surface make them appealing for a wide variety of nanoelectronic and biosensor applications.

Keywords

• DNA nanotechnology
• electrostatic force microscopy (EFM)
• DNA conductivity
• DNA-peptide conjugates
• self-assembly
• surfactant peptides