Akira Kakugo

An ATP-fueled soft gel machine reconstructed from polymer-crosslinked actin muscle protein (“giant-actin”) and analogously modified myosin has been built by Osada and co-workers. The “giant-actin” gel filaments (several 1000 times larger by volume than native actin, see Figure) move along their myosin counterparts as fast as native F-actin. Such machines should work inside their body of origin without eliciting immunoreactions.

Collective motion is a fascinating example of coordinated behavior of self-propelled objects, which is often associated with the formation of large scale patterns. Nowadays, the in vitro gliding assay is being considered a model system to experimentally investigate various aspects of group behavior and pattern formation by self-propelled objects. In the in vitro gliding assay, cytoskeletal filaments F-actin or microtubules are driven by the surface immobilized associated biomolecular motors myos

Cooperation is a strategy that has been adopted by groups of organisms to execute complex tasks more efficiently than single entities. Cooperation increases the robustness and flexibility of the working groups and permits sharing of the workload among individuals. However, the utilization of this strategy in artificial systems at the molecular level, which could enable substantial advances in microrobotics and nanotechnology, remains highly challenging. Here, we demonstrate molecular transportat

DNA has been well-known for its applications in programmable self-assembly of materials. Nonetheless, utility of DNA origami, which offers more opportunity to realize complicated operations, has been very limited. Here we report self-assembly of a biomolecular motor system, microtubule-kinesin mediated by DNA origami nanostructures. We demonstrate that a rodlike DNA origami motif facilitates self-assembly of microtubules into asters. A smooth-muscle like molecular contraction system has also bee

Molecular motor-driven self-assembly has been an active area of soft matter research for the past decade. Because molecular motors transform chemical energy into mechanical work, systems which employ molecular motors to drive self-assembly processes are able to overcome kinetic and thermodynamic limits on assembly time, size, complexity, and structure. Here, we review the progress in elucidating and demonstrating the rules and capabilities of motor-driven active self-assembly. We focus on the ty

The microtubule (MT)-kinesin biomolecular motor system has attracted considerable attention due to its possible applications in artificial biomachines. Recently, an active self-organization (AcSO) method has been established to integrate MT filaments into highly organized assembled structures. The ring-shaped MT assembly, one of the structures derived from the AcSO of MTs, can convert the translational motion of MTs into rotational motion. Due to this attractive feature, the ring-shaped MT assem

Polymer-actin complexes as large as 10-50 microm with filamentous, branched, stranded, and ring shapes are obtained when fluorescent phalloidin-labeled F-actin is mixed with some synthetic polymers carrying positive charges such as poly-L-lysine, x,y-ionene bromide polymers. All growth of these complexes occurs cooperatively at some certain critical polymer concentrations, regardless of the chemical structure of the polymer, while the morphology of the complexes is substantially influenced by th

In this study, we show that the energy-dissipative active self-assembly of microtubules (MTs) via a kinesin-based motility system produces various MT assemblies such as bundle-, network-, and ring-shaped structures depending on the initial conditions. Structural polymorphism of the MT assembly is depicted through phase diagrams, and morphogenesis of the MT assembly is discussed based on the following factors: binding force between MTs and motility-driving force from kinesins. This study provides

We investigated the role of the concentration of microtubules and depletion force in the emergence of collective motion of microtubules driven by kinesins. Critical concentrations were found for both microtubules and the depletant to demonstrate the collective motion of microtubules. More importantly, the kinetics of the collective motion were found to be significantly dependent on the concentration of microtubules and the depletant. Substantial variations in the time course of emergence of the

Tubulin polymerization in a confined space under a temperature gradient produced well-oriented microtubule assemblies with preferential polarity. We analyzed the structure and polarity of these assemblies at various levels of resolution by performing polarized light microscopy (millimeter order), fluorescence microscopy (micrometer order), and transmission electron microscopy (nanometer order).

The microtubule (MT)–kinesin system is a promising candidate for constructing artificial biomachines. The active self-organisation (AcSO) method has been developed to integrate MT filaments into highly organised assembled structures. The creation of ring-shaped MT assemblies is one of the outcomes of the organisation process and holds prospects for use in future nano-technological applications. However, making use of ring-shaped MT assemblies in practical applications requires further control of

Microtubules, the most rigid components of the cytoskeleton, can be key transduction elements between external forces and the cellular environment. Mechanical forces induce microtubule deformation, which is presumed to be critical for the mechanoregulation of cellular events. However, concrete evidence is lacking. In this work, with high-speed atomic force microscopy, we unravel how microtubule deformation regulates the translocation of the microtubule-associated motor protein kinesin-1, respons

Boundary conditions are important for pattern formation in active matter. However, it is still not well-understood how alterations in the boundary conditions (dynamic boundary conditions) impact pattern formation. To elucidate the effect of dynamic boundary conditions on the pattern formation by active matter, we investigate an <i>in vitro</i> gliding assay of microtubules on a deformable soft substrate. The dynamic boundary conditions were realized by applying mechanical stress through stretchi

The microtubule (MT)-kinesin system has been proposed as the building block of biomolecular motor based artificial biomachines. Considerable efforts have been devoted to integrate this system that produced a variety of ordered structures including the ring-shaped MT assembly which is being considered as a promising candidate for the further development of the biomachines. However, lack of proper knowledge that might help tune the direction of motion of ring-shaped microtubule assembly from count