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Controllable molecular motors engineered from myosin and RNA
Tosan Omabegho1, Pinar S Gurel2,3, Clarence Y Cheng4
1Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Nature Nanotechnology
|November 8, 2017
Summary
Researchers engineered novel nucleoprotein motors by combining myosin proteins with RNA lever arms. These hybrid motors offer dynamic control over molecular transport speed and direction, paving the way for advanced molecular machinery.
Area of Science:
- Biomolecular Engineering
- Molecular Motors
- Synthetic Biology
Background:
- Biomolecular motors are crucial for molecular transport in artificial and living systems.
- Previous research developed synthetic nucleic acid motors and modified protein motors separately.
- Integrating protein and nucleic acid components offers potential for sophisticated functionalities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To engineer novel nucleoprotein motors by integrating protein and nucleic acid components.
- To investigate the role of RNA lever arms in controlling myosin motor function.
- To demonstrate dynamic and sequence-specific control over motor transport.
Main Methods:
- Engineering hybrid myosin-RNA motors.
- Utilizing in vitro motility assays and single-molecule tracking.
- Employing cryo-electron microscopy and structural probing for characterization.
- Implementing strand-displacement reactions for dynamic control.
Main Results:
- Developed hybrid nucleoprotein motors with RNA lever arms that amplify and redirect protein motor conformational changes.
- Demonstrated that RNA lever arm geometry dictates motor transport speed and direction.
- Achieved reversible direction changes in response to oligonucleotide signals via strand-displacement reactions.
- Observed processive movement along actin filaments at speeds of 10-20 nm/s.
Conclusions:
- Engineered nucleoprotein motors offer a powerful platform for precise control over molecular transport.
- Dynamic control of motor direction and speed is achievable through programmed RNA structure transitions.
- These hybrid motors hold promise for applications in artificial molecular machines and targeted drug delivery.
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