First-principles design of nanomachines.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 19359489.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1073/pnas.0901429106 and PMC identifier 2678487.
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Abstract
Learning from nature's amazing molecular machines, globular proteins, we present a framework for the predictive design of nanomachines. We show that the crucial ingredients for a chain molecule to behave as a machine are its inherent anisotropy and the coupling between the local Frenet coordinate reference frames of nearby monomers. We demonstrate that, even in the absence of heterogeneity, protein-like behavior is obtained for a simple chain molecule made up of just 30 hard spheres. This chain spontaneously switches between 2 distinct geometries, a single helix and a dual helix, merely because of thermal fluctuations.
Medical subject headings
- Nanostructures