Related papers: Mechanical resistance in unstructured proteins
The breakage of a polymer chain of segments, coupled by anharmonic bonds with applied constant external tensile force is studied by means of Molecular Dynamics simulation. We show that the mean life time of the chain becomes progressively…
The assumption of linear response of protein molecules to thermal noise or structural perturbations, such as ligand binding or detachment, is broadly used in the studies of protein dynamics. Conformational motions in proteins are…
We study four citrate synthase homodimeric proteins within a structure-based coarse-grained model. Two of these proteins come from thermophilic bacteria, one from a cryophilic bacterium and one from a mesophilic organism; three are in the…
Rigidity analysis using the "pebble game" has been applied to protein crystal structures to obtain information on protein folding, assembly and t he structure-function relationship. However, previous work using this technique has not made…
Membrane neck formation is essential for scission, which, as recent experiments on tubules have demonstrated, can be location dependent. The diversity of biological machinery that can constrict a neck such as dynamin, actin, ESCRTs and BAR…
Molecular simulations of the forced unfolding and refolding of biomolecules or molecular complexes allow to gain important kinetic, structural and thermodynamic information about the folding process and the underlying energy landscape. In…
We analyze free energy estimators from simulation trials mimicking single-molecule pulling experiments on a neck linker of a kinesin motor. For that purpose, we have performed a version of steered molecular dynamics (SMD) calculations. The…
We have used numerical simulations to investigate how the properties of motor proteins control the dynamical behavior of a driven flexible filament. The filament is pinned at one end and positioned on top of a patch of anchored motor…
The lifetime of protein domains and ligand-receptor complexes under force is crucial for mechanosensitive functions, while many aspects of how force affects the lifetime still remain poorly understood. Here, we report a new analytical…
Unraveling the structural factors influencing the dynamics of amorphous solids is crucial. While deep learning aids in navigating these complexities, transparency issues persist. Inspired by the successful application of prototype neural…
Biomembranes wrapping cells and organelles are not only the partitions that separate the insides but also dynamic fields for biological functions accompanied by membrane shape changes. In this review, we discuss the spatiotemporal patterns…
Folded protein hydrogels are prime candidates as tuneable biomaterials but it is unclear to what extent their mechanical properties have mesoscopic, as opposed to molecular origins. To address this, we probe hydrogels of the muscle-derived…
Both animal and plant tissue exhibit a nonlinear rheological phenomenon known as compression stiffening, or an increase in moduli with increasing uniaxial compressive strain. Does such a phenomenon exist in single cells, which are the…
Compliant environments can mediate interactions between mechanically active cells like fibroblasts. Starting with a phenomenological model for the behaviour of single cells, we use extensive Monte Carlo simulations to predict non-trivial…
Structure formation and constant reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton are key requirements for the function of living cells. Here we show that a minimal reconstituted system consisting of actin filaments, crosslinking molecules and…
Living cells are soft bodies of a characteristic form, but endowed with a capacity for a steady turnover of their structures. Both of these material properties, i.e. recovery of the shape after an external stress has been imposed and…
The cytoskeleton is an active composite of filamentous proteins that dictates diverse mechanical properties and processes in eukaryotic cells by generating forces and autonomously restructuring itself. Enzymatic motors that act on the…
We study the deformation of a fluctuating crystalline sheet confined between two flat rigid walls as a simple model for layered solids where bonds among atoms {\it within} the same layer are much stronger than those {\it between} layers.…
Eukaryote cells have a flexible shape, which dynamically changes according to the function performed by the cell. One mechanism for deforming the cell membrane into the desired shape is through the expression of curved membrane proteins.…
The composite cytoskeleton, comprising interacting networks of semiflexible actin and rigid microtubules, actively generates forces and restructures using motor proteins such as myosins to enable key mechanical processes including cell…