Alignment of Filamentous Proteins and Associated Molecules Through Confinement in Microchannels
Abstract
A technique has been developed to study the structure and interaction of aligned filamentous proteins by confining them in surface-treated silicon microchannels. The micron-size channels induce the semiflexible biopolymers with comparable or larger persistence lengths than the channel width to naturally align parallel to the channel in solution, which facilitates structural studies by x-ray diffraction and optical imaging techniques. As a model system, we investigated the cross-linking of filamentous actin (F-actin) with the bundling protein alpha-actinin in the microchannels. Synchrotron x-ray diffraction and fluorescence microscopy were used to confirm that F-actin, when bundled in the device, conforms to the alignment of the channel geometry.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 06, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA511118
Entities
People
- Cyrus R. Safinya
- Linda S. Hirst
- Nathan F. Bouxsein
- Noel C. Macdonald
- Roger Pynn
- Youli Li
- Zuruzi A. Samah
Organizations
- University of California, Santa Barbara