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Updated: May 30, 2026

Self-Assembly of Microtubule Tactoids
Published on: June 23, 2022
Combing and self-assembly phenomena in dry films of Taxol-stabilized microtubules
Fabriceolivier Morin1, Franck Rose, Pascal Martin
1LIMMS-CNRS/IIS, UMI 2820, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Tokyo, 153-8505, Japan. morin@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
Abstract:
Microtubules are filamentous proteins that act as a substrate for the translocation of motor proteins. As such, they may be envisioned as a scaffold for the self-assembly of functional materials and devices. Physisorption, self-assembly and combing are here investigated as a potential prelude to microtubule-templated self-assembly. Dense films of self-assembled microtubules were successfully produced, as well as patterns of both dendritic and non-dendritic bundles of microtubules. They are presented in the present paper and the mechanism of their formation is discussed.
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