Related papers: Microtubules as electron-based topological insulat…

Microtubules are hollow cylindrical polymers composed of the highly negatively-charged (~23e), high dipole moment (1750 D) protein a,b-tubulin. While the roles of microtubules in chromosomal segregation, macromolecular transport and cell…

Starting from the hypothesis that the tubulin dimer is a conformationally bistable molecule - fluctuating between a curved and a straight configuration at room temperature - we develop a model for polymorphic dynamics of the microtubule…

Understanding the complex self-assembly of biomacromolecules is a major outstanding question. Microtubules are one example of a biopolymer that possesses characteristics quite distinct from standard synthetic polymers that are derived from…

Microtubules are biological protein polymers with critical and diverse functions. Their structures share some similarities with photosynthetic antenna complexes, particularly in the ordered arrangement of photoactive molecules with large…

We use optical trapping to continuously bend an isolated microtubule while simultaneously measuring the applied force and the resulting filament strain, thus allowing us to determine its elastic properties over a wide range of applied…

Microtubules have been in biophysical focus for several decades. Yet the confusing and mutually contradicting results regarding their elasticity and fluctuations have shed some doubts on their present understanding. In this paper we expose…

Spindles are self-organized microtubule-based structures that segregate chromosomes during cell division. The mass of the spindle is controlled by the balance between microtubule turnover and nucleation. The mechanisms that control the…

Plumbene, similar to silicene, has a buckled honeycomb structure with a large band gap ($\sim 400$ meV). All previous studies have shown that it is a normal insulator. Here, we perform first-principles calculations and employ a sixteen-band…

The topological properties of materials are, until now, associated with the features of their crystalline structure, although translational symmetry is not an explicit requirement of the topological phases. Recent studies of hopping models…

Microtubules are a major component of the cytoskeleton distinguished by highly dynamic behavior both in vitro and in vivo. We propose a general mathematical model that accounts for the growth, catastrophe, rescue and nucleation processes in…

Microtubules (MTs) are self-assembled hollow protein tubes playing important functions in live cells. Their building block is a protein called tubulin, which self-assembles in a particulate 2 dimensional lattice. We study the vibrational…

We investigate the structure and electronic spectra properties of two-dimensional amorphous bismuthene structures and show that these systems are topological insulators. We employ realistic modeling of amorphous geometries together with…

Topological insulators are electronic materials that have a bulk band gap like an ordinary insulator, but have protected conducting states on their edge or surface. The 2D topological insulator is a quantum spin Hall insulator, which is a…

The microtubule assembly process has been extensively studied, but the underlying molecular mechanism remains poorly understood. The structure of an artificially generated sheet polymer that alternates two types of lateral contacts and that…

The mathematical field of topology has become a framework to describe the low-energy electronic structure of crystalline solids. A typical feature of a bulk insulating three-dimensional topological crystal are conducting two-dimensional…

Microtubules are stiff filamentary proteins that constitute an important component of the cytoskeleton of cells. These are known to exhibit a dynamic instability. A steadily growing microtubule can suddenly start depolymerizing very…

Microtubules (MTs) are important cytoskeletal structures, engaged in a number of specific cellular activities, including vesicular traffic, cell cyto-architecture and motility, cell division, and information processing within neuronal…

3D topological insulators, similar to the Dirac material graphene, host linearly dispersing states with unique properties and a strong potential for applications. A key, missing element in realizing some of the more exotic states in…

Microtubules self-organize to form part of the cellular cytoskeleton. They give cells their shape and play a crucial role in cell division and intracellular transport. Strikingly, microtubules driven by motor proteins reorganize into stable…

We model the dynamical states of the C-termini of tubulin dimers that comprise neuronal microtubules. We use molecular dynamics and other computational tools to explore the time-dependent behavior of conformational states of a C-terminus of…