Harnessing microtubule dynamic instability for nanostructure assembly.

Intracellular molecular machines synthesize molecules, tear apart others, transport materials, transform energy into different forms, and carry out a host of other coordinated processes. Many molecular processes have been shown to work outside of cells, and the idea of harnessing these molecular machines to build nanostructures is attractive. Two examples are microtubules and motor proteins, which aid cell movement, help determine cell shape and internal structure, and transport vesicles and organelles within the cell. These molecular machines work in a stochastic, noisy fashion: microtubules switch randomly between growing and shrinking in a process known as dynamic instability; motor protein movement along microtubules is randomly interrupted by the motor proteins falling off. A common strategy in attempting to gain control over these highly dynamic, stochastic processes is to eliminate some processes (e.g., work with stabilized microtubules) in order to focus on others (interaction of microtubules with motor proteins). In this paper, we illustrate a different strategy for building nanostructures, which, rather than attempting to control or eliminate some dynamic processes, uses them to advantage in building nanostructures. Specifically, using stochastic agent-based simulations, we show how the natural dynamic instability of microtubules can be harnessed in building nanostructures, and discuss strategies for ensuring that "unreliable" stochastic processes yield a robust outcome.