Magnetic manipulation of actin orientation, polymerization, and gliding on myosin using superparamagnetic iron oxide particles

Published

January 7, 2011

Author(s)

John M. Moreland

Abstract

The actin cytoskeleton controls cell shape, motility, as well as intracellular molecular trafficking. The ability to remotely manipulate actin is therefore highly desirable as a tool to probe and manipulate biological processes at the molecular level. We demonstrate actin manipulation by labeling actin filaments with superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (IOPs) and applying a uniform magnetic field to affect actin orientation, polymerization and gliding on myosin. We show for the first time magnetic manipulation of magnetizable actin filaments at the molecular level while gliding on a bed of myosin molecules and during polymerization. A model for the magnetic alignment and guiding mechanism is proposed based on the torque from the induced molecular anisotropy due to interactions between neighboring IOPs distributed along magnetically labeled actin molecules. Online supplementary data available from stacks.iop.org/Nano/22/065101/mmedia

Citation

Nanotechnology

Volume

22

Issue

065101

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

actin, nanoparticles, magnetic torque, superparamagnetic iron-oxide particles (SPIO)

Citation

Moreland, J. (2011), Magnetic manipulation of actin orientation, polymerization, and gliding on myosin using superparamagnetic iron oxide particles, Nanotechnology (Accessed August 13, 2026)

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