Cited by 62Electrostatics and Colloid InteractionsMicrofluidic and Capillary Electrophoresis ApplicationsMicrotubule and mitosis dynamics

Electrophoresis of individual microtubules in microchannels

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van den Heuvel, M. G. L., de Graaff, M. P., Lemay, S. G., Dekker, C.·2007·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Abstract

We use micrometer-sized fluidic channels to confine and measure electrophoresis of freely suspended individual microtubules. We measure orientation-dependent velocities of microtubules and the electro-osmotic flow mobility in our channels to infer the anisotropic electrophoretic mobility of microtubules under physiological conditions. We discuss the difference between electrophoresis and purely hydrodynamic motion and its implications for interpreting mobility measurements. We show that the mobility anisotropy is a factor of 0.83, clearly different from the well known anisotropy factor of 0.5 in Stokes drag coefficients for cylindrical objects. We also show that the velocity is independent of microtubule length, which would be different for hydrodynamic motion. We demonstrate that the electric force on the counterions has important consequences for the interpretation of electrophoresis experiments and that ignoring this can lead to an underestimation of the effective charge by orders of magnitude. From the electrophoresis measurements, we calculate an effective surface-charge density of -36.7 +/- 0.4 mC/m2 for microtubules. Electrophoretic measurements of subtilisin-digested microtubules, which have the negatively charged C termini on the outer surface removed, show a 24% decrease in mobility and, correspondingly, in surface charge, but no change in anisotropy.

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Authors
van den Heuvel, M. G. L., de Graaff, M. P., Lemay, S. G., & Dekker, C.
Affiliations
  • Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ, Delft, The Netherlands
  • Delft University of Technology (NL)
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2007-05-08
Volume
104
Issue
19
Pages
7770-7775
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
OpenAlex
W2109115241
Cited by
62
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 6 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 4 · 2012: 1
FWCI
2.62
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Physical and Theoretical Chemistry › Electrostatics and Colloid Interactions
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Microfluidic and Capillary Electrophoresis Applications
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Microtubule and mitosis dynamics
Keywords
microtubules, electrophoresis, microchannels, electroosmotic flow, surface charge density, hydrodynamic motion, subtilisin digestion, Stokes drag
MeSH terms
Electrophoresis, Microtubules, Solutions, Surface Properties, Tubulin, Anisotropy, Dimerization

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