Berlin 2012 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 25: Posters: Molecular Motors
BP 25.7: Poster
Thursday, March 29, 2012, 17:30–19:30, Poster A
Spatio-temporal guiding of gliding microtubules by local heating on micro-structured surfaces — •Viktor Schroeder1,2, Ivan Maximov3, Till Korten1,2, Heiner Linke3, and Stefan Diez1,2 — 1MPI-CBG, Dresden, Germany — 2B CUBE, Dresden, Germany — 3nmC@LU, Lund University, Sweden
To use gliding microtubules as carriers in molecular sorting devices, methods for spatio-temporal control of transport need to be developed. Our approach is based on composite surfaces where functional kinesin motor proteins are adsorbed onto planar substrates between surface-grafted polymer chains of thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM). By external temperature control, we recently demonstrated [1] the reversible landing, gliding, and releasing of motor-driven microtubules in response to conformational changes of the polymer chains.
Based on recent findings that guided microtubule motility along non-topographical motor patterns is possible [2], we now aim to form switchable tracks. Specifically, we report how we apply electrical currents through micro-structured gold layers in order to locally collapse PNIPAM via Joule heating. Consequently, the kinesin motors become accessible on these tracks only and we show that motility can be guided along the routes where electrical currents are applied. We foresee future applications of this novel guiding technique for lab-on-chip devices in the fields of molecular diagnostics and bio-computation.
[1] L. Ionov et al., Nano Lett., 6, no. 9, pp. 1982-1987, (2006).
[2] C. Reuther, et al., Nano Lett., 6, no. 10, pp. 2177-2183, (2006).