Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Microtubules are dissipative polymers that switch stochastically between growth and rapid collapse, a behaviour known as dynamic instability. Because switching is coupled to nucleotide hydrolysis, each filament’s fate depends on the chemical state of its own subunits. Synthetic dissipative assemblies, by contrast, typically cycle as a population, following bulk fuel levels. Here we report monomer-assembled, micrometre-scale, DNA/RNA-hybrid filaments that polymerize and depolymerize autonomously over minutes. Each monomer carries an internal RNA insertion whose cleavage within the filament switches it from assembly-competent to inactive (depolymerization). Spontaneous transesterification gives each monomer an intrinsic lifetime, so filaments grow and collapse autonomously. A DNAzyme binding-site encoded in each monomer accelerates the same RNA-cleavage up to 15-fold, raising the depolymerization rate to closely match the polymerization rate. Using this rate matching and continuous regeneration of active monomer, the system reaches a non-equilibrium steady-state in which dynamic instability emerges, with a rescue frequency of 0.7 min⁻¹ per filament. Furthermore, adding a coupling strand crosslinks the filaments into meshes whose growth accelerates autocatalytically, forming a continuously-remodelling, mesh-network. Storing the switch in each monomer lets filaments cycle independently, offering a route to autonomously remodelling active materials.
Institution: Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7167913018