Behavior of Kinesin Driven Quantum Dots Trapped in a Microtubule Loop. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • We report the observation of kinesin driven quantum dots (QDs) trapped in a microtubule loop, allowing the investigation of moving QDs for a long time and an unprecedented long distance. The QD conjugates did not depart from our observational field of view, enabling the tracking of specific conjugates for more than 5 min. The unusually long run length and the periodicity caused by the loop track allow comparing and studying the trajectory of the kinesin driven QDs for more than 2 full laps, i.e., about 70 m, enabling a statistical analysis of interactions of the same kinesin driven object with the same obstacle. The trajectories were extracted and analyzed from kymographs with a newly developed algorithm. Despite dispersion, several repetitive trajectory patterns can be identified. A method evaluating the similarity is introduced allowing a quantitative comparison between the trajectories. The velocity variations appear strongly correlated to the presence of obstacles. We discuss the reasons making this long continuous travel distances on the loop track possible.

published proceedings

  • ACS Nano

author list (cited authors)

  • Sikora, A., Canova, F. F., Kim, K., Nakazawa, H., Umetsu, M., Kumagai, I., ... Teizer, W.

citation count

  • 12

complete list of authors

  • Sikora, AurĂ©lien||Canova, Filippo Federici||Kim, Kyongwan||Nakazawa, Hikaru||Umetsu, Mitsuo||Kumagai, Izumi||Adschiri, Tadafumi||Hwang, Wonmuk||Teizer, Winfried

publication date

  • November 2015