Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34285075›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2021

Active liquid crystals powered by force-sensing DNA-motor clusters.

Alexandra M Tayar, Michael F Hagan, Zvonimir Dogic

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Motor-driven microtubule diffusion in a photobleached dynamical coordinate system.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Alexandra M TayarDepartment of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.ORCID 0000-0002-1418-2058
Michael F HaganDepartment of Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02453.ORCID 0000-0002-9211-2434
Zvonimir DogicDepartment of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106; zdogic@ucsb.edu.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cytoskeletal active nematics exhibit striking nonequilibrium dynamics that are powered by energy-consuming molecular motors. To gain insight into the structure and mechanics of these materials, we design programmable clusters in which kinesin motors are linked by a double-stranded DNA linker. The efficiency by which DNA-based clusters power active nematics depends on both the stepping dynamics of the kinesin motors and the chemical structure of the polymeric linker. Fluorescence anisotropy measurements reveal that the motor clusters, like filamentous microtubules, exhibit local nematic order. The properties of the DNA linker enable the design of force-sensing clusters. When the load across the linker exceeds a critical threshold, the clusters fall apart, ceasing to generate active stresses and slowing the system dynamics. Fluorescence readout reveals the fraction of bound clusters that generate interfilament sliding. In turn, this yields the average load experienced by the kinesin motors as they step along the microtubules. DNA-motor clusters provide a foundation for understanding the molecular mechanism by which nanoscale molecular motors collectively generate mesoscopic active stresses, which in turn power macroscale nonequilibrium dynamics of active nematics.

Indexed as

BioengineeringLiquid CrystalsBiomechanical PhenomenaBiosensing TechniquesDNAKinesinsMechanical PhenomenaMicrotubulesMolecular Motor ProteinsProtein BindingTubulinDNAKinesinsMolecular Motor ProteinsTubulinactive matterDNA force sensorliquid crystalsmolecular motors

Identifiers

PMID34285075
PMCPMC8325308

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.