PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Joseph L. Watson
AU  - Samya Aich
AU  - Benjamí Oller Salvia
AU  - Andrew A. Drabek
AU  - Stephen C. Blacklow
AU  - Jason Chin
AU  - Emmanuel Derivery
TI  - Fibrinogen anchors for micropatterning of active proteins and subcellular receptor relocalisation
AID  - 10.1101/2020.09.04.256875
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.09.04.256875
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/09/21/2020.09.04.256875.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/09/21/2020.09.04.256875.full
AB  - Protein micropatterning allows proteins to be precisely deposited onto a substrate of choice, and is now routinely used in cell biology and in vitro reconstitution. However, a drawback of current technology is that micropatterning efficiency can be variable between proteins, and that proteins may lose activity on the micropatterns. Here, we describe a general method to enable micropatterning of virtually any protein at high specificity and homogeneity while maintaining its activity. Our method is based on an anchor that micropatterns well, Fibrinogen, which we functionalized to bind to common purification tags. This enhances micropatterning on various substrates, facilitates multiplexed micropatterning, and dramatically improves the on-pattern activity of fragile proteins like molecular motors. Furthermore, it enhances the micropatterning of hard to micropattern cells. Last, this method enables subcellular micropatterning, whereby complex micropatterns simultaneously control cell shape and the distribution of transmembrane receptors within that cell. Altogether, these results open new avenues for cell biology.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.