Scientists Create a Self-Morphing Material That Uses DNA Instructions to Control Its Own Movement

Imagine a material that can change its shape, generate movement and even switch between different mechanical behaviours without needing an external signal. Instead of relying on light, chemicals or human intervention, this material uses genetic instructions to control its own activity.

Researchers led by Rochelle Silverman have developed an experimental material that brings this idea closer to reality. By combining DNA-based instructions with a network of microscopic biological structures and molecular motors, the team created a system that can autonomously regulate its mechanical behaviour over time.

The findings introduce a new approach to designing active materials, in which genetic information does more than provide a blueprint for biological molecules. It also determines how a material moves, deforms and changes its mechanical state.

How Does the Self-Morphing Material Work?

The key to this new material is the combination of cell-free gene expression and a network of microtubules.

Microtubules are tiny, tube-shaped structures that form part of the internal skeleton of living cells. They help maintain cellular structure and provide tracks for transporting materials. When combined with molecular motor proteins, microtubules can also generate forces and produce coordinated movement.

In the new system, researchers embedded cell-free gene expression machinery directly inside a dense network of microtubules.

Cell-free gene expression is a technique that allows scientists to produce proteins outside living cells. The process uses biological machinery to read genetic instructions stored in DNA and translate them into proteins. This makes it possible to control protein production without needing an entire living cell.

The researchers used this capability to produce proteins that influence the material's structure and movement, including molecular motors, cross-linking proteins and regulatory proteins called transcription factors.

Molecular motors generate mechanical forces, while cross-linkers help connect different components of the microtubule network. Transcription factors regulate gene expression by controlling which genetic instructions are activated.

As the system produces these proteins, the material's composition changes. These changes influence the forces generated inside the network, allowing its mechanical behaviour to evolve without requiring researchers to repeatedly add new components.

In simple terms, the material contains both the machinery that generates movement and the genetic instructions that control that machinery.

DNA Becomes a Control System for Materials

Traditional active materials generally depend on components and conditions established before an experiment begins. For example, scientists may combine microtubules with a fixed amount of motor proteins. Once the material is assembled, its mechanical behaviour depends largely on that initial composition.

Researchers can change its activity using external methods, such as light-sensitive chemical reactions, optogenetic techniques or the addition of fresh biochemical components. However, these approaches require an outside intervention to control the system.

The new material follows a different strategy.

Its DNA-based genetic circuits continuously regulate the production of proteins that generate or modify mechanical forces. Consequently, activity becomes a changing property of the material rather than a fixed setting established during assembly.

The distinction is important because the material can respond to its own internal biochemical processes. Its mechanical behaviour develops as proteins are produced, regulated and broken down.

This creates a direct connection between genetic information and physical movement.

Four Different Mechanical Behaviours

One of the most important findings is that different genetic circuits can produce distinct patterns of mechanical activity.

By changing the organization and behaviour of these circuits, the researchers demonstrated four broad mechanical states.

1. Steady activity

In this state, the material maintains relatively continuous mechanical activity. The production and regulation of proteins support ongoing force generation, allowing movement to persist over time.

2. Pulsed activity

Here, mechanical activity occurs in bursts rather than remaining constant. Changes in gene expression and protein availability can cause the forces generated within the network to rise and fall.

3. Arrested activity

In this state, mechanical movement eventually slows or stops. The biochemical system no longer sustains the same level of active stress, allowing the material's dynamics to become arrested.

4. Oscillatory activity

The material can also display repeating changes in its mechanical behaviour. These oscillations arise from the interaction between gene regulation, protein production, protein degradation and the forces generated by the network.

These results show that genetic circuits can do more than switch a material on or off. Their organization can determine how mechanical activity develops over time.

However, these behaviours were demonstrated in a controlled experimental system. They do not mean that the material can yet perform complex, programmable movements like a living organism.

How Do Genetic Instructions Control Physical Changes?

To understand the relationship between gene expression and mechanical activity, the researchers also developed a mathematical model combining biochemical reactions with mechanical processes.

The model connects changes in protein production and degradation to the forces generated within the microtubule network.

One important parameter is the rate of gene expression, which determines how quickly the system produces particular proteins. Faster or slower production can change when sufficient molecular motors become available to generate significant mechanical forces.

Protein degradation is another important factor. As proteins break down, their concentrations change, influencing how long a particular mechanical state can be maintained.

The structure of the genetic circuit also matters. Different regulatory arrangements can produce different patterns of protein production, creating distinct mechanical outcomes even when the underlying material contains similar components.

The model successfully captured the different types of activity observed in the experiments. It also helped explain how biochemical parameters influence transitions between mechanical states.

This provides researchers with a framework for predicting how genetic circuits might be designed to produce particular material behaviours.

Why Does the Material Change Shape?

The researchers found that the material's physical structure and its biochemical regulation play different roles in determining its behaviour.

Across the genetic circuit designs studied, activity initially emerged through a wrinkling instability. This occurs when forces acting within a material cause an initially smoother structure to buckle or develop wrinkles.

The characteristic wavelength of these wrinkles was largely determined by the balance between elastic resistance and gravity, rather than by gene expression alone.

In contrast, gene expression strongly influenced the timing and progression of deformation. It affected when buckling began, how blisters grew, when structures collapsed and whether the material eventually developed more complex, turbulent activity.

This suggests that the material's physical properties help determine the scale of its deformations, while its genetic circuits regulate how those deformations develop over time.

The team also highlighted the importance of geometry. Confining the material within particular boundaries can suppress certain deformation patterns, while an elongated or otherwise uneven shape can favour movement in specific directions.

Together, biochemical programming and physical design offer two complementary ways to control the material.

Potential Applications of Genetically Programmed Materials

Although this technology remains at an experimental stage, it could open new directions in materials science, synthetic biology and soft robotics.

One potential application is the development of self-morphing materials that change shape in response to internal biochemical processes. Such materials could eventually be designed to alter their structure without requiring continuous external control.

Another possibility is the development of soft robotic systems. Unlike conventional machines that rely on motors, gears and electronic controllers, future bio-inspired materials might use molecular processes to generate and regulate movement.

The approach could also contribute to the design of adaptive materials whose mechanical properties change over time. For example, researchers may eventually develop systems that produce specific patterns of deformation or movement according to a programmed biochemical sequence.

In synthetic biology, the findings provide a way to connect gene circuits directly to physical functions. Rather than engineering genetic circuits solely to produce particular molecules, scientists could design them to control the behaviour of an entire material.

However, substantial research will be required before such systems can be used reliably outside laboratory conditions. Their stability, energy requirements, operating lifetime, scalability and ability to function in complex environments will all need further investigation.

A New Direction for Programmable Matter

The work led by Rochelle Silverman and her team establishes a new way to connect genetic regulation with the mechanics of active materials.

By embedding cell-free gene expression within a microtubule network, the researchers created a system in which DNA instructions continuously influence protein production, force generation and physical deformation.

The experiments demonstrate that carefully designed genetic circuits can produce steady, pulsed, arrested and oscillatory mechanical states. A mathematical model further explains how gene expression, protein degradation and regulatory architecture shape these behaviours.

The broader significance lies in treating genetic circuits as a programmable control system for materials. Instead of fixing a material's activity during assembly, researchers can use biochemical instructions to regulate how that activity evolves over time.

In the future, this principle could help scientists design materials that do not simply hold a particular shape or respond to an external command, but actively manage their own mechanical behaviour through programmed biochemical processes.

Reference: Silverman, R., Zerbib, E., Garenne, D. et al. Gene-driven self-morphing microtubule-based active matter. Nat. Mater. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02767-4