Functionalizing the Microtubule Lumen

The functionalization of the outer lattice of in vitro reconstituted microtubules has paved the way for the development of diverse nano-device applications. The outer lattice has been metallized for the bottom-up synthesis of nanowires composed of various materials. Moreover, a wide range of biomolecules and nanoprobes have been attached to the outer surface for nano-scale transport and detection assays in conjunction with motor proteins. The functionalization of the outer lattice has certain implications: While the nanowires adopt the overall shape of the microtubules, their surface is inhomogeneous due to the absence of any morphological control. The attachment of cargo on the outer lattice creates a ‘roadblock effect’ hindering the transport activity of the motor proteins as they share a common substrate surface. In this project, the utilization of the hollow interior region of the microtubules, called the lumen (∼15 nm in diameter) is proposed to overcome these limitations. A strategy is developed to functionalize the microtubule lumen by targeting molecular cargo conjugated to lumen-binding (anti-acetyl alpha-tubulin lysine-40) antibodies. This would optimize existing motility-based applications as the outer surface would be exclusively available for the activity of the motor proteins. Furthermore, microtubules functionalized with luminal gold nanoparticle ‘seeds’ are utilized for the lumen-templated assembly of gold nanowires