A bioinspired design principle for DNA nanomotors: Mechanics-mediated symmetry breaking and experimental demonstration

DNA nanotechnology is a powerful tool to fabricate nanoscale motors, but the DNA nanomotors to date are largely limited to the simplistic burn-the-bridge design principle that prevents re-use of a fabricated motor-track system and is unseen in biological nanomotors. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate a scheme to implement a conceptually new design principle by which a symmetric bipedal nanomotor autonomously gains a direction not by damaging the traversed track but by fine-tuning the motor's size.