A free-running DNA motor powered by a nicking enzyme.

Herein, we present a simple linear motor, built from DNA and a restriction enzyme, which moves a DNA cargo in discrete steps along a DNA track. Movement is powered by a nicking enzyme that cuts the track. Damage to the track in the wake of the cargo imposes directionality. The specificity of base-pairing, the rigidity of short segments of the double helix, and the flexibility of singlestranded segments make DNA an ideal material for construction of nanometer-sized mechanical devices. Such devices can generate forces of the order of picoNewtons, in the same range as the forces developed by single-molecule