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Kinesin motors driven microtubule swarming triggered by UV light

Polymer Journal volume 54, pages 1501–1507 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

We report the swarming of microtubules driven by the biomolecular motor kinesin and dissociation of microtubule swarms under UV and visible light irradiation, respectively. We introduced para tert-butyl-substituted azobenzene, a photoresponsive molecule, to the backbone of single strand DNA, which functions as a photoswitch. Due to the photoswitch, the swarming of DNA-conjugated microtubules was controlled and reversible regulation of microtubule swarming was achieved in a repeated manner upon alternate irradiation with UV and visible light. This reversible swarming of microtubules could provide new opportunities for designing complex swarming systems with the ability of multitasking, expediting the development of molecular machines.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Future AI and Robot Technology Research and Development Project from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Japan; a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas “Molecular Engine” (JP18H05423); a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (JP21H04434), awarded to AK; a Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A) (JP20H05972) and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (JP21K04846) awarded to AMRK Partial support by JSPS KAKENHI grant numbers (JP21H05025) awarded to HA, JP20K15399 to KM, and Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas “Molecular Cybernetics” (JP20H05970) to KM are also acknowledged.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Satsuki Ishii, Mousumi Akter

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Chemical Sciences & Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan

    Satsuki Ishii, Kazuki Sada & Akira Kakugo

  2. Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan

    Mousumi Akter, Arif Md. Rashedul Kabir, Kazuki Sada & Akira Kakugo

  3. Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan

    Keiji Murayama & Hiroyuki Asanuma

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  1. Satsuki Ishii
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Correspondence to Akira Kakugo.

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Ishii, S., Akter, M., Murayama, K. et al. Kinesin motors driven microtubule swarming triggered by UV light. Polym J 54, 1501–1507 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-022-00693-1

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