A computer simulation of reconstitute systems of motor proteins revealed biophysical phenomena relevant to biomedical engineering

We present a simulation study of gliding assays of cytoskeletal filaments and their associated motor proteins. The gliding assays serve as a basis of applications of motor proteins for nanotechnology. For example, cargo-loading cytoskeletal filaments propelled by the associated motor proteins, which is so-called molecular shuttles (MSs), can be alternative to conventional transport on Lab-on-a-Chip. During the developments, researchers have encountered biophysical phenomena which cannot be easily elucidated, such as detailed mechanisms of guiding of MSs by microfabricated guiding tracks. Elucidating such phenomena is important for the developments of microscale biomedical devices. However, elucidation of the phenomena has been hampered by lack of detailed information. Such information is difficult to obtain through experiments. Here, using a computer simulation, we revealed biophysical phenomena during MS propulsions and guiding by microfabricated tracks.