By Ratneshwar Thakur
New Delhi: Biological assemblies are thousands of tiny machineries which play collectively important roles towards maintaining the cellular structure and functions, and many of them even play very critical roles. Self-assembly of these tiny machines requires biological fuel to become operational. Scientists have been trying to figure out how these tiny machines are controlled. This could help in controlling engineered organic designs comparable to natural frameworks.
A research team led by Dr Subi J. George and Dr S. Balasubramanian at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, have shown that synthetic molecules can grow and be controlled on similar stimuli such as biological systems.
In this study, researchers worked on Actin, a protein which frames the contractile fibres of muscle cells. In living system, Actin assembles on its own using its monomer components under the influence of biological fuel Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). Actin as tiny machine works like treadmill to support cellular movements.
