Complex nearly immotile behaviour of enzymatically driven cargos

Molecular motors are protein-based machines essential for directional transport of cellular components. Inspired by biology, in this work we synthesize and characterize a protein-based microscale motor we dub the lawnmower. It is comprised of a spherical hub decorated with trypsin enzymes; its motion is directed by cleavage of a peptide lawn, which promotes motion towards fresh substrate. We find the lawnmower is capable of superdiffusive motion, and can attain average speeds of up to 80 nm/s. By contrast, the lawnmower exhibits exhibit purely diffusive motion on lawns lacking the peptide substrate. We believe the lawnmower is the first example of an autonomous protein-based synthetic motor purpose-built using nonmotor protein components.

show abstract

“…2e). Such subdiffusive, trajectory-averaged α values have been discussed in other systems displaying saltatory dynamics [50].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

An Artificial Protein-Based Burnt-Bridges Molecular Motor Design

Korosec

Forde

2020

Biophysical Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Inferring Stochastic Rates from Heterogeneous Snapshots of Particle Positions

Miles,

McKinley,

Ding

et al. 2024

Bull Math Biol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Motility of an autonomous protein-based artificial motor that operates via a burnt-bridge principle

Korosec,

Unksov,

Surendiran

et al. 2024

Nat Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Inspired by biology, great progress has been made in creating artificial molecular motors. However, the dream of harnessing proteins – the building blocks selected by nature – to design autonomous motors has so far remained elusive. Here we report the synthesis and characterization of the Lawnmower, an autonomous, protein-based artificial molecular motor comprised of a spherical hub decorated with proteases. Its “burnt-bridge” motion is directed by cleavage of a peptide lawn, promoting motion towards unvisited substrate. We find that Lawnmowers exhibit directional motion with average speeds of up to 80 nm/s, comparable to biological motors. By selectively patterning the peptide lawn on microfabricated tracks, we furthermore show that the Lawnmower is capable of track-guided motion. Our work opens an avenue towards nanotechnology applications of artificial protein motors.

show abstract

Complex nearly immotile behaviour of enzymatically driven cargos

Abstract: We report a minimal microtubule-based motile system displaying signatures of unconventional diffusion.

Cited by 3 publications

References 45 publications

An Artificial Protein-Based Burnt-Bridges Molecular Motor Design

An Artificial Protein-Based Burnt-Bridges Molecular Motor Design

Inferring Stochastic Rates from Heterogeneous Snapshots of Particle Positions

Motility of an autonomous protein-based artificial motor that operates via a burnt-bridge principle

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About