The in vitro motility assay is valuable for fundamental studies of actomyosin function and has recently been combined with nanostructuring techniques for the development of nanotechnological applications. However, the limited understanding of the interaction mechanisms between myosin motor fragments (heavy meromyosin, HMM) and artificial surfaces hampers the development as well as the interpretation of fundamental studies. Here we elucidate the HMM−surface interaction mechanisms for a range of negatively charged surfaces (silanized glass and SiO2), which is relevant both to nanotechnology and fundamental studies. The results show that the HMM-propelled actin filament sliding speed (after a single injection of HMM, 120 μg/mL) increased with the contact angle of the surfaces (in the range of 20−80°). However, quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) studies suggested a reduction in the adsorption of HMM (with coupled water) under these conditions. This result and actin filament binding data, together with previous measurements of the HMM density (Sundberg, M.; Balaz, M.; Bunk, R.; Rosengren-Holmberg, J. P.; Montelius, L.; Nicholls, I. A.; Omling, P.; Tågerud, S.; Månsson, A. Langmuir 2006, 22, 7302−7312. Balaz, M.; Sundberg, M.; Persson, M.; Kvassman, J.; Månsson, A. Biochemistry 2007, 46, 7233−7251), are consistent with (1) an HMM monolayer and (2) different HMM configurations at different contact angles of the surface. More specifically, the QCM and in vitro motility assay data are consistent with a model where the molecules are adsorbed either via their flexible C-terminal tail part (HMMC) or via their positively charged N-terminal motor domain (HMMN) without other surface contact points. Measurements of ζ potentials suggest that an increased contact angle is correlated with a reduced negative charge of the surfaces. As a consequence, the HMMC configuration would be the dominant configuration at high contact angles but would be supplemented with electrostatically adsorbed HMM molecules (HMMN configuration) at low contact angles. This would explain the higher initial HMM adsorption (from probability arguments) under the latter conditions. Furthermore, because the HMMN mode would have no actin binding it would also account for the lower sliding velocity at low contact angles. The results are compared to previous studies of the microtubule−kinesin system and are also discussed in relation to fundamental studies of actomyosin and nanotechnological developments and applications.

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A new experimental setup for in situ studies of the metal/atmosphere interface has been developed based on simultaneous infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRAS) and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) measurements of a metal surface. It consists of an in situ chamber in which the metal can be exposed to a well-controlled atmosphere. Four external devices are connected to the in situ chamber; a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer with external optical compartments, a QCM sensor probe with a frequency counter, a corrosive air generator, and a corrosive air analyzing system. In order to demonstrate the capability of the IRAS/QCM setup, copper was exposed to purified air at 80% relative humidity and 25°C. Under these exposure conditions, the interface between copper and air consists of cuprous oxide and water physisorbed on the oxide. The kinetics of the cuprous oxide formation could be followed in situ with both techniques. The combined IRAS/QCM results show excellent agreement with previous combined IRAS and cathodic reduction measurements and with optical calculations of the IRAS response. Under these conditions, the detection limit in terms of an equivalent Cu,O film thickness is 10 A for IRAS in situ analysis and 2 A for QCM in situ analysis, respectively.