Fueling and Stabilizing a Biomolecular Motor-Powered Biosensor for Remote Detection Scenarios.

摘要

Autonomous micro- and nanodevices, such as 'smart dust', operate in environments with variable temperatures. The activity of integrated biological components, such as enzymes, typically exhibits a pronounced dependence on temperature. Here, strategies to minimize the influence of temperature on device performance are discussed. The temperature dependence of the Michaelis- Menten parameters vmax and Km is measured for kinesin motor proteins, and it is concluded that for molecular shuttles powered by kinesin motors a range of subsaturating substrate concentrations exists at which the increase of maximal activity of the kinesin motor with increasing temperature is almost cancelled by a decreasing affinity to its substrate. This example illustrates that temperature stabilization and high activation are competing goals.