DNA strands become fibre optic cables
At the Chalmers University in Sweden, a team of scientists led by Bo Albinsson have created a method which turns DNA strands into fibre optic cables. They guide light, which could be of use in optical computers which use light instead of electricity to perform calculations or in artificial photosyntesis devices.
Those kinds of devices need small light-carrying wires that are able to carry photons. That’s what the Swedish research crew discovered. The wires are built by mixing DNA molecules and chromophores. In this research, scientists used a specific chromophore molecule called YO which has a strong affinity for DNA. As a result, DNA strands turn into very small photonic wires (length ~20nm, diameter ~2nm).
How did they prove this? They implanted a molecule on one end of the DNA strand which was supposed to absorb light, and another one, on the other end of the strand, which was supposed to emit light when it receives it from the neighbouring molecule. After that, researchers shone UV light on a collection of the DNA strands after they had been treated with YO and the finished wires transmitted around 30% of the light received by the input molecule along to the emitting molecule.
