Itamar Willner and co-workers at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, introduce a new type of template structure for the construction of nanocomposites containing protein units (thrombin). These are glued together by bi-functional or tri-functional nucleic acids (aptamers) that exhibit specific binding properties to the proteins. This results in supramolecular wires that are either linear or branched nanostructures. 

                    

These findings are important as they indicate the possibility of tailoring nucleic acid structures to induce the polymerisation of proteins into nanowires. They could have future applications in nanoelectronics and towards the synthesis of metallic or semiconductor nanowires. 

Willner and his team have not only generated a new template structure, but also a method to fabricate biocatalytic templates that could subsequently be used to synthesise nanoscale electronic circuitry. 

'This work could be extended to bind biocatalytic proteins other than thrombin. This could lead to the subsequent orthogonal biocatalytic deposition of two different metals or metal/semiconductor nanostructures,' explains Willner.
 
Willner stated that amongst the challenges facing researchers in this area, reproducible control over the biomolecular templates, and the development of methods to attach these nanostructures onto surfaces must be achieved. 
Michael Brown