Unidirectional movement of myosin-driven beads on immobilized F-actin arrays in a microfluidic channel

Actin-myosin system is a basic component to perform nanoscale biological transport in cells. Myosin walks along actin filament using chemical fuel, ATP, and the polarity of F-actin decides the direction of myosin movement. The present paper demonstrates unidirectional transport of microbeads along immobilized F-actin arrays in a microchannel. To transport myosin coated microbeads to the desired direction, polarity of F-actin is oriented using biotinylated actin-capping proteins and a flow field. Streptavidin coated microfluidic channel defines the direction of the flow field and biotinylated F-actin is oriented along the flow field. This technique will lay foundation for the future applications of autonomous transport and actuation systems, whether biological or synthetic in nature at nanoscale.