Dresden 2020 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 9: Poster II
BP 9.12: Poster
Monday, March 16, 2020, 17:30–19:30, P2/2OG
Functionalizing the microtubule lumen — •Foram Joshi1, Hauke Drechsler1, and Stefan Diez1,2 — 1B CUBE - Center for Molecular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany — 2Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany
Microtubules are hollow tubular protein assemblies of the cytoskeleton, which serve as tracks for motor proteins for the translocation of intracellular cargo. Motors proteins, when bound to a substrate surface in vitro, can be employed to propel reconstituted microtubules for nanodevice applications in molecular sorting, bio-diagnostics and nanometric surface imaging. Conventionally, in these assays the outer microtubule surface is used for cargo attachment via functionalization with biomolecules and/or nanoprobes. The resulting drawbacks are (i) 'roadblock effects', as the attached cargo can severely impede motor stepping, and (ii) varying distances between cargo and substrate surface, as microtubules while gliding, often rotate along their longitudinal axes. To overcome these limitations, we aim to encapsulate the cargo inside the microtubule lumen (15 nm). We will report on strategies to functionalize the lumen with gold-nanoparticles conjugated to lumen-targeting components such as (i) antibodies against acetylated alpha-tubulin, (ii) peptides derived from tau protein, and (iii) microtubule-inner proteins (FAP85). The resulting lumen-functionalized microtubules shall be applied for optimizing motility assays and for fabricating conductive nanowires by the directed growth of encapsulated inorganic nanoparticles along the microtubule lumen.