Biomolecular Shuttles Under Dielectrophoretic Forces

The concept of biomolecular shuttles using interactions of myosin (the motor) and actin filament (F- actin, the shuttle) is that they can be used to transport micro or nano-sized cargos to a desired destination at nanoscale in synthesized environment. To utilize their ability to transport, dielectrophoretic forces which are generated by induced polarization under a nonuniform electrical field are introduced as a viable candidate to control the direction of their random movement. Under an AC electric field, actin filaments which slide on a heavy meromyosin coated surface show perpendicularly bidirectional movement between embedded electrodes and the aligned movement depends on the strength of dielectrophoretic forces. This paper explores the behaviors of F-actin movement under dielectrophoretic forces. Furthermore, the velocity and orientation of F-actin movement under the AC electric field are measured with various AC voltages, frequencies and distances between electrodes.