The Cooperative Motility of Microtubules on Nano-Patterned Kinesin-1 Turf

摘要

The reconstituted biomolecular motor system of microtubules (MTs) propelled by kinesin motor protein in vitro has been envisioned as ideal candidate to investigate the features of coordinated behavior of self-propelled particles. Here, we have investigated the motile behavior of MTs moving on nano-patterned kinesin-1 turf. Our experimental results demonstrate that, the spatial arrangement of kinesins allows some degree of alignment among MTs during their collision, which ultimately leads to a cooperative motility regardless of any substantial influence of depleting or binding agent. The alignment and coordination of MTs are possible to tune by systematic variation of kinesin spacing.