Towards a ‘nano-traffic’ system powered by molecular motors

Silanized surfaces for in vitro studies of actomyosin function and nanotechnology applications

“…Previously, in studies using a combination of resist polymers [25][26][27], we have clearly demonstrated the potential of nanostructuring for efficiently constraining the motility of actin filaments to HMM-coated nanosized tracks (see further introduction). However, the actin filament sliding velocity was lower on the resists than on nitrocellulose and some actin filament motility was observed outside the tracks [25].…”

“…In recent work we have taken the technique to create myosin binding polymer tracks into the nano-regime by using electron beam lithography [25,26] and nanoimprinting lithography [27]. Using these methods we succeeded in producing very narrow (<200 nm) polymer tracks for adsorption of heavy meromyosin.…”

Dynamic Nanodevices Based on Protein Molecular Motors

“…The motility of actin filaments powered by myosin or its fragments (e.g., HMM) has been demonstrated on various surfaces, including (i) nitrocellulose [84,94], (ii) glass [49,74]; (iii) Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA [93]); (iv) Poly (tert butyl methacrylate) and Poly(methacrylic acid), the latter produced by the e-beam exposure of the former [62]; (v) Poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE [92]); (vi) O-acryloiyl acetophenone oxime (AAPO) copolymer [54,115]; (vii) printable cross-linkable UV-resist (MRL-6000) [12,13]; and (viii) glass surfaces derivatized with trimethylchlorosilane [91]. Similarly, the motility of microtubules powered by kinesin has also been demonstrated on a variety of surfaces, such as (i) glass [11,17,24,36,43,88,89]; (ii) silicon [88]; (iii) PMMA [11]; (iv) Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) [11]; (v) ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) [11]; (vi) PTFE [23]; and (vi) deepUV resist (SAL601 [34]).…”

“…[62,93]) demonstrated the motility of actin filaments on patterned PMMA, whereas others (e.g. [12,13,74]) used PMMA for patterns that do not support motility. This difference in experimental results, which is less evident for hard surfaces (e.g., glass and silicon), derives from the complex character of polymers and their surfaces.…”

“…The second technological choice was implemented in an early study [93] via preferential adsorption of HMM on PMMA microfabricated features on a non-adhesive glass background. Most studies, however, couple the patterning of motor proteins with the mechanical confinement of motility in profiled microfabricated micro-channels, which has been achieved for HMM/myosin for the following architectures: (i) floor: UV-resist (MRL-6000); walls: PMMA [12,13]; (ii) floor: glass; walls: PMMA [74]; (iii) floor: ablated O-acryloyl acetophenone oxime (AAPO) copolymer; walls: BSA coated AAPO [54,115]; and (iv) floor: glass; walls: metal electrodes [4]. Similarly, kinesin immobilization in micro-channels has been demonstrated for (i) floor: SiO 2 ; walls: PEO-coated SU8 (a photoresist) [18]; (ii) floor: glass; walls: SAL601 (an e-beam resist) [34]; and (iii) floor: glass; walls: SU8 [43].…”