Unidirectional transport of HMM coated particles on fascin crosslinked F-actin arrays

Actin-myosin system plays an important role in biological transport and it can be utilized for various applications: delivery, sorting, and powering microdevices in in vitro. A key of harnessing this powerful and efficient system is directional control. To perform directional control, unipolar F-actin arrays were created on a substrate. Biotinylated gelsolin was used as a tool to anchor F-actin on the streptavidin coated surface. To prevent nonspecific binding of F-actin on the surface, blocking agents were employed. In presence of a flow field, anchored Factin was aligned and fascin helped forming F-actin arrays on the surface. When unipolar F-actin arrays were created, HMM coated particles were successfully moved along Factin arrays at approx. 1.3 μm/s. This technique will provide constructive information for the future applications of transport and actuation systems using actinmyosin at nanoscale.