Enzymes can be used to create nanoscale patterns on a gold surface, Duke University engineers have demonstrated, representing an important advance in nanomanufacturing.

They used an enzyme called DNase I as an “ink” in a process called dip-pen nanolithography (for nanoscale etching or writing). The dip-pen allowed them to inscribe precise 100-nanometers-wide stripes of DNase I ink on a gold plate, which they had previously coated with a thick forest of short DNA strands.

They then activated the enzyme with a magnesium-containing solution. This changed the DNase I into a form that efficiently breaks down any DNA in its path. As a result, the stripes of activated enzyme carved out 400 nm-wide “troughs” in the DNA coating.

“In an afternoon, we inexpensively created a nanostructure that would have taken weeks to develop using expensive, traditional methods of etching circuits into chips,” said biomedical engineer Ashutosh Chilkoti of Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, who leads the project.

NSF Press Release