In Vitro Microtubule Growth for Producing Engineered Nanotransport Machines

摘要

Methods have been developed for depositing patterned distributions of anyantibody molecule on a Si0(2) wafer with high spatial definition and signal-to-noise ratio (Mooney et al., PNAS, 1996). This method is now being used to attach microtubule organizing centers (centrosomes) in patterned arrays to develop organized microtubule geometries of known polarity. In a parallel investigation, antibodies bound to glass have been used to attach chromosomes isolated from mammalian cells to a substrate for light microscopy. Stable microtubule fragments have then been bound to the chromosomes, elongated with rhodamine labeled tubulin, and their dynamics studied both by direct inspection and during intervention by a laser trap, holding a bead affixed to the chromosome distal end of the labile microtubule. Both chromosomes and centrosomes are exarnples of microtubule organizing centers with mechanical properties that can contribute to future work on engineered nanomachines.