Genome complexity: mobile proteins (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, March 04, 2019, 18:08 (1881 days ago) @ David Turell

Parts of protein molecules in life are in constant motion, and that motion is used to promote active processes:

https://phys.org/news/2019-03-gotcha-scientists-fingerprint-proteins-vibrations.html

"In the cells of every living organism—humans, birds, bees, roses and even bacteria—proteins vibrate with microscopic motions that help them perform vital tasks ranging from cell repair to photosynthesis.

***

"A team led by University at Buffalo physicist Andrea Markelz reports that it has developed a method for rapidly measuring proteins' unique vibrations.

"The advance could open new possibilities in biological research, such as studying the microscopic motions of proteins more efficiently, or leveraging vibrational patterns as "fingerprints" to quickly determine whether specific proteins are present in a laboratory sample.

"Scientists could also use the new technique to swiftly assess whether pharmaceuticals designed to inhibit a protein's vibrations are working. This would require comparing the vibrational signatures of proteins before and after the application of inhibitors.

"'Proteins are elegant and robust nanomachines that nature has developed," says Markelz, Ph.D., a professor of physics in the UB College of Arts and Sciences. "We know nature uses molecular motions to optimize these machines. By learning the underlying principles of this optimization, we can develop new biotechnology for medicine, energy harvesting and even electronics.'"

Comment: This is just the beginning of unpeeling another layer of activity and controls of processes. We'll await results and more layers.