Transport of semiconductor nanocrystals by kinesin molecular motors

The synthesis and functionalization of quantum dots with active kinesin biomolecular motors and transportation of these dots along immobilized microtubules, was investigated. Quantum-dot cores are synthesized in an organic phase and usually with cytotoxic compounds, so for biological applications the cores need to be protected and transferred to an aqueous phase by coating with shell. The conjugation of quantum dots to motors through biotin-avidin leads to the utilization of the semiconductor nanaocrystals as bright and robust fluorophores to track conventional kinesin movement along cytoskeletal filaments. The results show that the nanoclusters can be used to investigate bidirectional transport by motors and co-assembly of heterogeneous particles.