Nanofilament Directional Control within a Hybrid Microelectronic Actin-Myosin Motility Assay via Integrated Electric Field Addressing

microtubule-kinesin system and the actin-myosin system Both systems operate on the same principle; myosin or kinesin motor heads drive specific polymer filaments ma up of protein monomers (actin or tubulin) while utilizing ATP as a chemical energy source (Figure 1 [1]). Actin monomers have an average length of 5.5 nm and join together to form twisted-rope chains 10 nm in diamet with lengths of 50-200 nm. The filaments associated wit kinesin, hollow microtubules, are significantly larger at nm in diameter and up to 100 μm long, usually composed 13 parallel strands of 8 nm long tubulin monomers. Whil they both perform the same basic function, there are many variations among kinesin and myosin molecules, includi head size, hinge length, and mode of motion.