DNA nanomachine
A schematic of the device with an atomic force microscopy image below. All of the device is made of DNA. The five diamonds are labeled with Roman numerals, and the sticky ends (attachment points for the substrates) on the device are labeled with Arabic numerals. The double-thick double helices on the central shaft between diamond I and double diamond II-III and between double diamond II-III and double diamond IV-V are the devices programmable by DNA signals. Depending on the strands added to the system, the double diamonds are flipped about the shaft. Thus, if the left device is left alone and the right device is flipped, the attachment points will be 1 and 2 on the left and 4 and 7 on the right.
Credit: Nadrian C. Seeman