Melanin-containing fungi (black molds) have the capacity to thrive under extreme environmental conditions such as the elevated radiation levels inside the former Chernobyl reactors. These fungi have been hypothesized to grow toward and use gamma radiation as an energy source, but the literature does not clearly address which energies of the electromagnetic spectrum, if any, positively affect fungal growth. The goal of this work was to characterize the response of non-melanized and melanized fungi to two distinct electromagnetic wavelengths, i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol
September 2014
Biomolecular motors are a unique class of intracellular proteins that are fundamental to a considerable number of physiological functions such as DNA replication, organelle trafficking, and cell division. The efficient transformation of chemical energy into useful work by these proteins provides strong motivation for their utilization as nanoscale actuators in ex vivo, meso- and macro-scale hybrid systems. Biomolecular motors involved in cytoskeletal transport are quite attractive models within this context due to their ability to direct the transport of nano-/micro-scale objects at rates significantly greater than diffusion, and in the absence of bulk fluid flow.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSynthetic interconnected lipid nanotube networks were fabricated on the millimeter scale based on the simple, cooperative interaction between phospholipid vesicles and kinesin-microtubule (MT) transport systems. More specifically, taxol-stabilized MTs, in constant 2D motion via surface absorbed kinesin, extracted and extended lipid nanotube networks from large Lα phase multilamellar liposomes (5-25 μm). Based on the properties of the inverted motility geometry, the total size of these nanofluidic networks was limited by MT surface density, molecular motor energy source (ATP), and total amount and physical properties of lipid source material.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomolecular motor-powered active transport represents an alternate means for analyte processing in nanoscale biosensors and bioanalytical devices. For example, a prototype "smart dust" biosensor has recently been reported in which the motor protein kinesin processes antibody-functionalized microtubules (MTs) to capture and separate optically tagged protein analytes. A potential limitation of this technology, however, involves the inhibition of transport function by interfering compounds that may be present in raw samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiotechnol Bioeng
December 2009
Biomolecular motors, such as kinesin, have been used to shuttle a range of biological and synthetic cargo in microfluidic architectures. A critical gap in this technology is the ability to controllably link macromolecular cargo on microtubule (MT) shuttles without forming extraneous byproducts that may potentially limit their application. Here we present a generalized approach for functionalizing MTs with antibodies in which covalent bonds are formed between the carbohydrate in F(c) region of polyclonal antibodies and the positively charged amino acids on the MT surface using the crosslinker succinimidyl 4-hydrazidoterephthalate hydrochloride (SHTH).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecently, kinesin biomolecular motors and microtubules filaments (MTs) were used to transport metal and semiconductor nanoparticles with the long-term goal of exploiting this active transport system to dynamically assemble nanostructured materials. In some cases, however, the presence of nanoparticle cargo on MTs was shown to inhibit transport by interfering with kinesin-MT interactions. The primary objectives of this work were (1) to determine what factors affect the ability of kinesin and MTs to transport nanoparticle cargo, and (2) to establish a functional parameter space in which kinesin and MTs can support unimpeded transport of nanoparticles and materials.
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