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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Using Microfluidics and Fluorescence Microscopy to Study the Assembly Dynamics of Single Actin Filaments and Bundles
Published on: May 5, 2022
Selective assembly and alignment of actin filaments with desired polarity on solid substrates
Ling Huang1, Pradeep Manandhar, Kyung-Eun Byun
1Department of Physics and MARTECH, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA.
Abstract:
We report a new strategy to selectively assemble and align filamentous actin (F-actin) onto desired locations on a solid substrate with a specific structural polarity. In this strategy, biotinylated gelsolin caps the structural minus end of F-actin so that the F-actin binds onto a streptavidin pattern with a specific structural polarity. We also demonstrate that an electric field can be utilized to align bound F-actin along a desired direction. This can be one of the major technical breakthroughs toward the assembly of nanomechanical systems based on myosin biomotors.
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