計画班D01・北海道大学コビル アリフ助教らの研究が，ACS OMEGA誌に掲載されました。
Microtubule (MT) is one of the major structural components of cytoskeleton. Nowadays, MT has emerged as a key component of molecular machines and molecular robots. Rigidity of MTs is a critical metric that plays crucial role in the applications of molecular machines. Regulation of the rigidity of MTs has been required for the advancement of molecular machines by facilitating diversity in their functions. In this work, wedemonstrate that trimethylamine N-oxide, a deep-sea osmolyte, can be useful in regulating the rigidity of MTs in a reversible manner. We employed trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) in thein vitro gliding assay of MTs on kinesins and studied its effect of the rigidity of MTs. Without any prior modification in MT structure, rigidity of MTs was substantially reduced simply using the TMAO in the gliding assay. The process was completely reversible and elimination of the TMAO allowed regaining the rigidity of MTs. This work is expected to contribute to expediting the applications of molecular machines.
