TY - JOUR
T1 - Nanoscale patterning of kinesin motor proteins and its role in guiding microtubule motility
AU - Verma, Vivek
AU - Hancock, William O.
AU - Catchmark, Jeffrey M.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements This work was supported by The Pennsylvania State University Center for Nanoscale Science, a NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (DMR0213623). It was also supported by the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NSF Cooperative Agreement No. 0335765 with Cornell University) and The Pennsylvania State University Materials Research Institute. V. V wishes to thank the Haythornthwaite Foundation for their Founder’s Prize and grant for year 2005–06.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Biomolecular motor proteins have the potential to be used as 'nano-engines' for controlled bioseparations and powering nano- and microelectromechanical systems. In order to engineer such systems, biocompatible nanofabrication processes are needed. In this work, we demonstrate an electron beam nanolithography process for patterning kinesin motor proteins. This process was then used to fabricate discontinuous kinesin tracks to study the directionality of microtubule movement under the exclusive influence of surface bound patterned kinesin. Microtubules moved much farther than predicted from a model assuming infinite microtubule stiffness on tracks with discontinuities of 3 μm or less, consistent with a free-end searching mechanism. As the track discontinuities exceeded 3 μm, the measured and predicted propagation distances converged. Observations of partially fixed microtubules suggest that this behavior results from the interaction of the microtubules with the surface and is not governed predominately by the microtubule flexural rigidity.
AB - Biomolecular motor proteins have the potential to be used as 'nano-engines' for controlled bioseparations and powering nano- and microelectromechanical systems. In order to engineer such systems, biocompatible nanofabrication processes are needed. In this work, we demonstrate an electron beam nanolithography process for patterning kinesin motor proteins. This process was then used to fabricate discontinuous kinesin tracks to study the directionality of microtubule movement under the exclusive influence of surface bound patterned kinesin. Microtubules moved much farther than predicted from a model assuming infinite microtubule stiffness on tracks with discontinuities of 3 μm or less, consistent with a free-end searching mechanism. As the track discontinuities exceeded 3 μm, the measured and predicted propagation distances converged. Observations of partially fixed microtubules suggest that this behavior results from the interaction of the microtubules with the surface and is not governed predominately by the microtubule flexural rigidity.
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U2 - 10.1007/s10544-008-9237-9
DO - 10.1007/s10544-008-9237-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 18989786
AN - SCOPUS:62649123214
SN - 1387-2176
VL - 11
SP - 313
EP - 322
JO - Biomedical Microdevices
JF - Biomedical Microdevices
IS - 2
ER -