2001/04/24 by Henry Hess, John Clemmens, Dong Qin +2 · 333 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · Chemistry · #Microtubule and mitosis dynamics #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques #Kinesin #Molecular motor #Motor protein #Microtubule #Covalent bond #Nanotechnology #Chemistry #Nanoscopic scale #Materials science #Cell biology #Biology
paper · doi:10.1021/nl015521e
published in Nano Letters 1(5), 235-239 (American Chemical Society)
openalex publication_date 2001/04/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Molecular shuttles have been built from motor proteins capable of moving cargo along engineered paths. We illustrate alternative methods of controlling the direction of motion of microtubules on engineered kinesin tracks, how to load cargo covalently to microtubules, and how to exploit UV-induced release of caged ATP combined with enzymatic ATP degradation by hexokinase to turn the shuttles on and off sequentially. These are the first steps in the development of a tool kit to utilize molecular motors for the construction of nanoscale assembly lines.