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UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF PHYSICS Guest
2024-11-22 1:59 |
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Conference: Bucharest University Faculty of Physics 2010 Meeting
Section: Biophysics and Medical Physics;Electricity and Magnetism
Title:
Biophysical nanomachines. A short overview
Authors:
Aurel I. Popescu, Doina M. Gazdaru, and Claudia G. Chilom
Affiliation:
Research Centre in Molecular Biophysics, Department of Electricity and Biophysics, Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest
E-mail
aurel.popescu.46@gmail.com
Keywords:
proteins, molecular motors, ionic pumps, ionic channels, actin-myosin, ribosomes
Abstract:
Many biological structures, operating in the frame offered by higher biological systems are of nanoscale dimensions. Even a supramolecular structure like the cell membrane has a thickness of only 10 nm accommodating an impressive number of proteins (e.g., ionic pumps, ionic channels, carriers, immunological receptors, etc.) of nanometric dimensions. Other important proteins are operating inside the cells. They are associated with inner membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum or with different cellular organelles like, nucleus, mitochondria, chloroplasts, lysosomes, etc. Many of these proteins are operating like tiny molecular motors (e.g., ionic pumps, DNA-polymerase the complex actin-myosin, etc.). Other molecular structures are formed from inactive proteins like the flagellin, but their rotation movements are driven by a proton gradient, across the cell membrane. Some of the proteins, acting as molecular motors, are involved in the duplication of DNA, a biological nanowire, too. At a higher level, the ribosomes (i.e. complexes of proteins and ribonucleic acid) are acting as true molecular machines during the protein synthesis. All these nanomachines, fuelled by the chemical energy deposited in ATP, are shortly described, their cellular role being emphasized, too.
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