  Rotary motors play key roles in energy transduction, from macroscale
windmills to nanoscale turbines such as ATP synthase in cells. Despite our
capabilities to construct engines at many scales, developing functional
synthetic turbines at the nanoscale has remained challenging. Here, we
experimentally demonstrate rationally designed nanoscale DNA-origami turbines
with three chiral blades. These DNA nanoturbines are 24-27 nm in height and
diameter and can utilise transmembrane electrochemical potentials across
nanopores to drive DNA bundles into sustained unidirectional rotations of up to
10 revolutions/s. The rotation direction is set by the designed chirality of
the turbine. All-atom molecular dynamics simulations show how hydrodynamic
flows drive this turbine. At high salt concentrations, the rotation direction
of turbines with the same chirality is reversed, which is explained by a change
in the anisotropy of the electrophoretic mobility. Our artificial turbines
operate autonomously in physiological conditions, converting energy from
naturally abundant electrochemical potentials into mechanical work. The results
open new possibilities for engineering active robotics at the nanoscale.
