Emergent Dynamic Instability in Micrometer-scale Synthetic Active-matter Polymers

In cells, cytoskeletal filaments such as microtubules are dissipative polymers that switch stochastically between growth and rapid collapse, a behaviour known as dynamic instability. This switching is coupled to nucleotide hydrolysis, so a filament’s fate depends on the chemical state of its subunits and the free-monomer pool. Previously reported synthetic assemblies can be cycled between assembled and disassembled states, but the switch is typically set by the global fuel level rather than by a state stored within each monomer. Here we demonstrate a DNA/RNA hybrid polymer in which every monomer holds a one-bit internal state — assembly-competent or inactivated — flipped irreversibly by cleavage of an internal RNA linkage. The bit is written by two routes sharing the same transesterification chemistry: a slow spontaneous cleavage giving each monomer an intrinsic lifetime, and a fast, site-specific write by a programmable DNAzyme. Because inactivation is irreversible, sustained cycling requires continuous regeneration of active monomer, holding the system in a non-equilibrium steady state in which filaments undergo repeated depolymerization and rescue at frequencies near 0.2 min⁻¹. We also find that the filaments form meshes auto-catalytically. Because each crosslink recruits filaments from the pool, crosslinking accelerates autocatalytically, driving a percolation transition to a system-spanning network that continuously remodels as its filaments turn over. Thus the timing of switching can be stored within individual monomers rather than imposed as a global threshold — providing a route to autonomously remodelling active materials.