Molecular Self-Assembly of “Nanowires” and “Nanospools” Using Active Transport

Abstract

Mastering supramolecular self-assembly to a similar degree as nature has achieved on a subcellular scale is critical for the efficient fabrication of complex nanoscopic and mesoscopic structures. We demonstrate that active, molecular-scale transport powered by biomolecular motors can be utilized to drive the self-assembly of mesoscopic structures that would not form in the absence of active transport. In the presented example, functionalized microtubules transported by surface-immobilized kinesin motors cross-link via biotin/streptavidin bonds and form extended linear and circular mesoscopic structures, which move in the presence of ATP. The self-assembled structures are oriented, exhibit large internal strains, and are metastable while the biomolecular motors are active. The integration of molecular motors into the self-assembly process overcomes the trade-off between stability and complexity in thermally activated molecular self-assembly.

Effect of length and rigidity of microtubules on the size of ring-shaped assemblies obtained through active self-organization

“…8,9 Depending on the experimental conditions such as MT concentration and crosslinker ratio (St/Bt), AcSO of MTs provides bundle-, network-, and ring-shaped assemblies which generate translational, amoeboid and rotational motion respectively. 10,11 Among them, the ring-shaped assembly have been attracting considerable attention and appears to be a promising candidate for application in nanotechnology as this non-equilibrium structure is capable of storing a huge amount of bending energy 8 and can provide continuous work without changing the position of the mass center. [12][13][14][15][16] Therefore, it is important to understand how different factors affect the formation and properties of ring-shaped MT assemblies such as rotational direction, thickness (subtraction of inner diameter from outer diameter), size etc..…”

Understanding the role of transport velocity in biomotor-powered microtubule spool assembly

“…7,8 To generate spools, biotin-functionalized microtubules are used in standard gliding assays, and additional streptavidin molecules are added to introduce "sticky" interactions between microtubules (Fig. 1, Mov.…”

Controllable Self-Assembly of Nanoparticles for Specific Delivery of Multiple Therapeutic Molecules to Cancer Cells Using RNA Nanotechnology

“…[50][51][52][53] We have reported that phi29 pRNA, via the interaction of programmed helical regions and loops, can be engineered and fabricated at will to form a variety of structures and shapes including twins, tetramers, rods, triangles, and arrays with sizes ranging from nanometers to micrometers. 13,27 Such fabricated RNA nanoparticles could hold diverse RNA building blocks with controllable stoichiometries ranging from one, two, three, or six copies up to thousands of copies.…”