Molecular surgery of DNA based on electrostatic micromanipulation

A novel method for the space-resolved dissection (molecular surgery) of DNA using electrostatic molecular manipulation is proposed and demonstrated. In conventional biochemistry, DNA cutting enzymes and DNA are mixed in water, so the cutting reactions occur only by stochastic chances. In contrast, the present method is based upon a physical manipulation and enables the deterministic cutting of DNA at arbitrary position on a DNA molecule. In order to realize this space-resolved cutting, the target DNA is stretched straight by electrostatic orientation, and anchored onto a solid surface by dielectrophoresis, using a high intensity (/spl ges/1 MV/m) high frequency (/spl ap/1 MHz) field generated in microfabricated electrodes. The molecular surgery presented in this paper is expected to realize space-resolved molecular operations, not only limited to dissections, but also chemical modifications, or even insertion of genes may become possible in the future.