MPI-DS Colloquium: Collaborative task achievement by a swarm of biomolecular motor based robots

Cooperation is a strategy that has been adopted by groups of organisms to execute com-plex tasks more efficiently than single entities. Cooperation increases the robustness and flexibility of the working groups and permits sharing of the workload among individuals. Here, we demonstrate molecular transportation through the cooperative action of a large number of artificial molecular machines, photoresponsive DNA-conjugated microtubules driven by kinesin motor proteins. Mechanical communication via conjugated photore-sponsive DNA enables these microtubules to organize into groups upon photoirradiation. The groups of transporters load and transport cargo, and cargo unloading is achieved by dissociating the groups into single microtubules. The group formation permits the load-ing and transport of cargoes with larger sizes and in larger numbers over long distances compared with single transporters. We also demonstrate that cargo can be collected at user-determined locations defined by ultraviolet light exposure.