Related papers: Timed material self-assembly controlled by circadi…
The KaiABC circadian clock from cyanobacteria is the only known three-protein oscillatory system which can be reconstituted outside the cell and which displays sustained periodic dynamics in various molecular state variables. Despite many…
Catalytically active colloids maintain non-equilibrium conditions in which they produce and deplete chemicals and hence effectively act as sources and sinks of molecules. While individual colloids that are symmetrically coated do not…
Biological systems have the unique ability to self-organize and generate autonomous motion and work. Motivated by this, we investigate a 2D model colloidal network that can repeatedly transition between disordered states of low connectivity…
By incubating the mixture of three cyanobacterial proteins, KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC, with ATP in vitro, Kondo and his colleagues reconstituted the robust circadian rhythm of the phosphorylation level of KaiC (Science, 308; 414-415 (2005)).…
The principal pacemaker of the circadian clock of the cyanobacterium S. elongatus is a protein phosphorylation cycle consisting of three proteins, KaiA, KaiB and KaiC. KaiC forms a homohexamer, with each monomer consisting of two domains,…
In a recent series of ground-breaking experiments, Nakajima et al. [Science 308, 414-415 (2005)] showed that the three cyanobacterial clock proteins KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC are sufficient in vitro to generate circadian phosphorylation of KaiC.…
It is possible that there are post-translational circadian oscillators that continue functioning in the absence of negative feedback transcriptional repression in many cell types from diverse organisms. Apart from the KaiABC system from…
In equilibrium self-assembly, microscopic building blocks spontaneously self-organize into stable structures as dictated by their interaction potentials, which limits the accessible structural features to those that correspond to global…
Biochemical circadian rhythm oscillations play an important role in many signalling mechanisms. In this work, we explore some of the biophysical mechanisms responsible for sustaining robust oscillations by constructing a minimal but…
Colloidal molecules are designed to mimic their molecular analogues through their anisotropic shape and interactions. However, current experimental realizations are missing the structural flexibility present in real molecules thereby…
Biological cells self-organize into living materials that uniquely blend structure with functionality and responsiveness to the environment. The integration of similar life-like features in man-made materials remains challenging, yet…
Biological oscillators are very diverse but can be classified based on dynamical motifs such as the types of feedback loops present. The S. Elongatus circadian clock is a remarkable phosphorylation-based oscillator that can be reconstituted…
We demonstrate a simple method by which time-dependent interactions can be exploited to improve self-assembly in colloidal systems. We apply this method to two systems: a model colloid with short-ranged attractive potentials that undergoes…
Circadian clocks play a pivotal role in orchestrating numerous physiological and developmental events. Waveform shapes of the oscillations of protein abundances can be informative about the underlying biochemical processes of circadian…
Thanks to a constant energy input, active matter can self-assemble into phases with complex architectures and functionalities such as living clusters that dynamically form, reshape and break-up, which are forbidden in equilibrium materials…
Circadian clocks are the central timekeepers of life, allowing cells to anticipate changes between day and night. Experiments in recent years have revealed that circadian clocks can be highly stable, raising the question how reliably they…
Long and stable timescales are often observed in complex biochemical networks, such as in emergent oscillations. How these robust dynamics persist remains unclear, given the many stochastic reactions and shorter time scales demonstrated by…
Colloids play an important role in fundamental science as well as in nature and technology. They have had a strong impact on the fundamental understanding of statistical physics. For example, colloids have helped to obtain a better…
Just like atoms combine into molecules, colloids can self-organize into predetermined structures according to a set of design principles. Controlling valence -- the number of inter-particle bonds -- is a prerequisite for the assembly of…
Manipulating the way in which colloidal particles self-organise is a central challenge in the design of functional soft materials. Meeting this challenge requires the use of building blocks that interact with one another in a highly…