Steering microtubule shuttle transport with dynamically controlled magnetic fields

K. D. Mahajan; G. Ruan; C. J. Dorcéna; G. Vieira; G. Nabar; N. F. Bouxsein; J. J. Chalmers; G. D. Bachand; R. Sooryakumar; J. O. Winter

doi:10.1039/C5NR08529B

Steering microtubule shuttle transport with dynamically controlled magnetic fields†

K. D. Mahajan,‡^a G. Ruan,‡^ab C. J. Dorcéna,^a G. Vieira,^c G. Nabar,^a N. F. Bouxsein,^d J. J. Chalmers,^a G. D. Bachand,^d R. Sooryakumar^c and J. O. Winter*^ae

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* Corresponding authors

^a William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 151 West Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH, USA

^b Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

^c Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

^d Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, USA

^e Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
E-mail: winter.63@osu.edu

Abstract

Nanoscale control of matter is critical to the design of integrated nanosystems. Here, we describe a method to dynamically control directionality of microtubule (MT) motion using programmable magnetic fields. MTs are combined with magnetic quantum dots (i.e., MagDots) that are manipulated by external magnetic fields provided by magnetic nanowires. MT shuttles thus undergo both ATP-driven and externally-directed motion with a fluorescence component that permits simultaneous visualization of shuttle motion. This technology is used to alter the trajectory of MTs in motion and to pin MT motion. Such an approach could be used to evaluate the MT–kinesin transport system and could serve as the basis for improved lab-on-a-chip technologies based on MT transport.

Nanoscale

Steering microtubule shuttle transport with dynamically controlled magnetic fields†

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Steering microtubule shuttle transport with dynamically controlled magnetic fields

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