Millennial musings on molecular motors.
In a universe that is dominated by increasing entropy, living organisms are a curious anomaly. The organization that distinguishes living organisms from their inanimate surroundings relies upon their ability to execute vectorial processes, such as directed movements and the assembly of macromolecules and organelle systems. Many of these phenomena are executed by molecular motors that harness chemical potential energy to perform mechanical work and unidirectional motion. This article explores how these remarkable protein machines might have evolved and what roles they could play in biological and medical research in the coming decades.
Vale
R D
RD
Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Dept of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. vale@phy.ucsf.edu
D000818:Animals; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; D011506:Proteins