Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
cleotides may enhance DNA repair capacity in human skin, in the absence of
actual DNA damage that normally induces the protective response, and thus
reduce the carcinogenic risk from solar UV irradiation, particularly in the
elderly. In another reports, Sudo et al. provided clear evidence that dietary
DNA may play an important role in promoting a shift in Th1-Th2 balance
toward Th1-dominant immunity [135-137]. These findings on the bioactiv-
ity of DNA might lead to biomaterials derived from DNA with new uses and
new challenges to explore, and possibly open new horizons of DNA-based
biomaterials.
6
Perspective
In this review, we have presented an overview of the current state of DNA-
based functional materials. It is noticeable that many biology techniques
contributed to DNA-based materials. In the research on DNA nanostruc-
ture, the DNA resource profits from the ability to synthesize virtually any
DNA sequence by automated methods and to amplify any DNA sequence in
microscopic to macroscopic quantities using PCR. The biology techniques
also offer researchers a variety of DNA sample. For example, in Mao's re-
port [72], micrometer-long DNA molecules were synthesized by rolling-circle
DNA synthesis. This long DNA template is difficult to obtain from either
automated DNA synthesis or nature. Furthermore, discoveries in the bio-
sciences always bring us new inspirations for DNA applications. Liao and
Seeman [92] present a DNA device that can program the synthesis of lin-
ear polymers through positional alignment of reactants. In this ribosome-like
DNA device, there is no complementary relationship between the signal se-
quence and the products. Like these instances, it is foreseeable that functional
materials-based DNA will obtain most power from biosciences and biotech-
nology. On the other hand, DNA-based adsorbents were considered to have
various potential applications in the environmental and health fields. Our
results have shown that DNA can be used as an environmental material to
selectively remove some toxic pollutants from aqueous solution. However,
the possibility of removing pollutants in air by using DNA-based materials
is still a challenge to explore. Similar to the behavior in aqueous solution,
as discussed previously, it is recognized that DNA has inherent properties
for this purpose and it is possible to create many further applications. For
example, DNA-containing cigarette filters are hopeful for removing a lot of
toxic chemicals such as planar PAHs from the smoke, and a DNA-modified
filter can be expected to remove some carcinogenic pollutants in car exhaust
gases. Finally, in summary, the use of DNA as a material does not have a long
history, and it is still a great challenge to develop DNA-based materials for
practical use.
