Abstract
We introduce a DNA-based reaction-diffusion (RD) system in which reaction and diffusion terms can be precisely and independently controlled. The effective diffusion coefficient of an individual reaction component, as we demonstrate on a traveling wave, can be reduced up to 2.7-fold using a self-assembled hydrodynamic drag. The intrinsic programmability of this RD system allows us to engineer, for the first time, orthogonal autocatalysts that counterpropagate with minimal interaction. Our results are in excellent quantitative agreement with predictions of the Fisher-Kolmogorov-Petrovskii-Piscunov model. These advances open the way for the rational engineering of pattern formation in pure chemical RD systems.
- Received 6 October 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.068301
© 2015 American Physical Society
Viewpoint
Making Waves with DNA
Published 9 February 2015
Strands of DNA can be used to generate waves of chemical reactions with programmable shape and velocity.
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