Nano-Particles Carried by Multiple Dynein Motors Self-Regulate Their Number of Actively Participating Motors

Intra-cellular active transport by native cargos is ubiquitous. We investigate the motion of spherical nano-particles (NPs) grafted with flexible polymers that end with a nuclear localization signal peptide. This peptide allows the recruitment of several mammalian dynein motors from cytoplasmic extr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2021-08, Vol.22 (16), p.8893
Main Authors: Halbi, Gal, Fayer, Itay, Aranovich, Dina, Gat, Shachar, Bar, Shay, Erukhimovitch, Vitaly, Granek, Rony, Bernheim-Groswasser, Anne
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Active transport
Binding sites
Dynein
Experiments
Handedness
Helicity
Ligands
Localization
Microtubules
Monte-Carlo simulations
Motility
motility assays
Motors
multi-motor complex
nano-particles
Nanoparticles
Peptides
Proteins
Simulation
single particle tracking
Stochasticity
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Summary:Intra-cellular active transport by native cargos is ubiquitous. We investigate the motion of spherical nano-particles (NPs) grafted with flexible polymers that end with a nuclear localization signal peptide. This peptide allows the recruitment of several mammalian dynein motors from cytoplasmic extracts. To determine how motor–motor interactions influenced motility on the single microtubule level, we conducted bead-motility assays incorporating surface adsorbed microtubules and combined them with model simulations that were based on the properties of a single dynein. The experimental and simulation results revealed long time trajectories: when the number of NP-ligated motors Nm increased, run-times and run-lengths were enhanced and mean velocities were somewhat decreased. Moreover, the dependence of the velocity on run-time followed a universal curve, regardless of the system composition. Model simulations also demonstrated left- and right-handed helical motion and revealed self-regulation of the number of microtubule-bound, actively transporting dynein motors. This number was stochastic along trajectories and was distributed mainly between one, two, and three motors, regardless of Nm. We propose that this self-regulation allows our synthetic NPs to achieve persistent motion that is associated with major helicity. Such a helical motion might affect obstacle bypassing, which can influence active transport efficiency when facing the crowded environment of the cell.
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms22168893