Different Microtubule Structures Assembled by Kinesin Motors
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Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Assembling Molecular Shuttles Powered by Reversibly Attached Kinesins
Published on: January 26, 2019
Weixing Song1, Jianxiong Zhu2, Weimin Kong1
1Department of Chemistry , Capital Normal University , Beijing 100048 , P.R. China.
Abstract:
The microtubule-kinesin system is used to form microtubule-based structures via microtubule gliding motility. On the kinesin-coated surface, the microtubules can be easily assembled into stable micro- and nanostructures like circles and microtubule bundles using the streptavidin-biotin system. Furthermore, these microtubules structures can still retain performance with kinesin motor movement in spite of different velocities. Collisions bear responsibility for the majority of events leading to circle formation. By taking advantage of biological substances, some micro- or nanostructures, which are difficult to fabricate by artificial processes, can be easily obtained.
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