A molecular device: A DNA molecular lock driven by the nicking enzymes

Abstract As people are placing more and more importance on information security, how to realize the protection of information has become a hotspot of current research. As a security device, DNA molecular locks have great potential to realize information protection at the molecular level. However, building a highly secure molecular lock is still a serious challenge. Therefore, taking advantage of the DNA strand displacement and enzyme control technology, we constructed a molecular lock with a self- destructive mechanism. This molecular lock is mainly composed of logic circuits and takes nicking enzymes as inputs. To build this molecular lock, we first constructed a series of cascade circuits, including a YES–YES cascade circuit and a YES–AND cascade circuit. Then, an Inhibit logic gate was constructed to explore the inhibitory properties between different combinations of two nicking enzymes. Finally, using the characteristics of mutual inhibition between several enzymes, a DNA molecular lock driven by three nicking enzymes was constructed. In this molecular device, only the correct sequence of nicking enzymes can be input to ensure the normal operation of the molecular lock. Once the wrong password is entered, the device will be destroyed and cannot be recovered, which effectively prevents intruders from cracking the lock through exhaustive methods. The molecular lock has the function of simulating an electronic keyboard, which can realize the protection of information at the molecular level, and provides a new implementation method for building more advanced and complex molecular devices.