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Molecular Machines: How Motion and Other Functions of Living Organisms Can Result from Reversible Chemical Changes
Author(s) -
Urry Dan W.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition in english
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 0570-0833
DOI - 10.1002/anie.199308191
Subject(s) - work (physics) , lift (data mining) , folding (dsp implementation) , constant (computer programming) , isothermal process , motion (physics) , biological system , living systems , molecular machine , raising (metalworking) , chemical energy , protein folding , computer science , chemistry , biochemical engineering , materials science , thermodynamics , nanotechnology , biology , physics , artificial intelligence , biochemistry , engineering , mechanical engineering , data mining , metallurgy , programming language
Certain model proteins dramatically fold and become more ordered on raising the temperature. When the temperature is raised to drive folding and assembly, these model proteins can lift weights and perform work; they can produce motion. The temperature of warm‐blooded animals, however, is kept constant. Therefore, motion cannot result from a change in temperature. In this case, a free energy change, caused, for example, by an increase in the concentration of a chemical, can lower the temperature at which the protein folding and assembly transition occurs from above to below physiological temperature. Raising the concentration of a chemical isothermally has indeed been shown to result in motion and the efficient performance of work. These model proteins and the mechanism they reveal provide insight into the molecular basis for diverse biological functions; they are models for the molecular machines that comprise the living organism, and they provide a new class of materials for both medical and nonmedical applications.