Related papers: Helices in Biomolecules
Many microorganisms and artificial microswimmers use helical appendages in order to generate locomotion. Though often rotated so as to produce thrust, some species of bacteria such Spiroplasma, Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Spirochetes induce…
Biological membranes mainly consist of lipids and proteins. While the proteins have many functions as single molecules, the membrane as a whole displays physical properties that cannot be explained on the single molecule level. For example,…
At the molecular level, most biological processes entail protein associations which in turn rely on a small fraction of interfacial residues called hot spots. Here we show that hot spots share a unifying molecular attribute: they provide a…
A framework is presented for understanding the common character of proteins. Proteins are linear chain molecules. However, the simple model of a polymer viewed as spheres tethered together does not account for many of the observed…
In optical lattices where each site is occupied in its lowest energy state by a superposition of zero, one and two atoms, one can in a controllable manner convert the atomic pair into a molecule while retaining the vacuum and one-atom…
Using Langevin simulations, we find that simple 'generic' bead-and-spring homopolymer chains in a sufficiently bad solvent spontaneously develop helical order during the process of collapsing from an initially stretched conformation. The…
Nucleonic matter displays a quantum liquid structure, but in some cases finite nuclei behave like molecules composed of clusters of protons and neutrons. Clustering is a recurrent feature in light nuclei, from beryllium to nickel. For…
We study the relation between $\alpha$-helix formation and folding for a simple artificial peptide, Ala$_{10}$-Gly$_5$-Ala$_{10}$. Our data rely on multicanonical Monte Carlo simulations where the interactions among all atoms are taken into…
With exquisite precision and reproducibility, cells orchestrate the cooperative action of thousands of nanometer-sized molecular motors to carry out mechanical tasks at much larger length scales, such as cell motility, division and…
We prove that general helices in Euclidean space for Killing vector fields associated to rotations are helices, that is, curves with constant curvature and constant torsion. In hyperbolic space $\h^3$, we obtain the parametrization of…
The biological function of a protein stems from its 3-dimensional structure, which is thermodynamically determined by the energetics of interatomic forces between its amino acid building blocks (the order of amino acids, known as the…
Helices are not generic outcomes of polymer collapse. Collapsed conformations of semiflexible polymers with isotropic attractions typically form globules, toroids, or rod-like structures, as seen in simulations and described by…
Lipid membranes form the barrier between the inside and outside of cells and many of their subcompartments. As such, they bind to a wide variety of nano- and micrometer sized objects and, in the presence of strong adhesive forces, strongly…
Biological cells are able to generate intricate structures and respond to external stimuli, sculpting their membrane from within. Simplified biomimetic systems can aid in understanding the principles which govern these shape changes and…
Spectacular collective phenomena such as jamming, turbulence, wetting, and waves emerge when living cells migrate in groups.
A micelle consists of monolayer of lipid molecules containing hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tail. These amphiphilic molecules in aqueous environment aggregate spontaneously into monomolecular layer held together due to hydrophobic effect…
All cells must keep time to consistently perform vital biological functions. To that end, the coupling and interrelatedness of diverse subsecond events in the complex cellular environment, such as protein folding or translation rates,…
The primary building block of the body is collagen, which is found in the extracellular matrix and in many stress-bearing tissues such as tendon and cartilage. It provides elasticity and support to cells and tissues while influencing…
If many micelles adsorb onto the same polymer molecule then they are said to form a necklace. A minimal model of such a necklace is proposed and shown to be almost equivalent to a 1-dimensional fluid with nearest-neighbour interactions. The…
Capsids of many viruses assemble around nucleic acids or other polymers. Understanding how the properties of the packaged polymer affect the assembly process could promote biomedical efforts to prevent viral assembly or nanomaterials…