Controlled movement of kinesin-driven microtubule along a directional track

Abstract

We designed a system for the controlled directional movements of kinesin-driven microtubule by restricting the motor coating areas in a two-dimensional (2D) substrate. The t-butoxycarbonyl (Boc) was firstly introduced in an amine groups modified glass surface to construct 2D track. The polarity of the above mentioned glass can be efficiently reversed after Boc protection, resulting in the surface transferring from hydrophilicity to hydrophobicity. Through a selective treatment of Boc de-protection, the substrate surface can be distributed into hydrophilic and hydrophobic partitions. The hydrophilic areas can be observed by labeling nanoparticles or fluorescent dye, thus the different shapes were formed at the substrate. The hydrophilic parts in the substrates will allow kinesin to be selectively immobilized on this surface and result in the controlled directional movement of microtubule. With this design, the selective decoration of 2D tracks may have a potential application in field of biomolecular motors based nanodevice.