First-principles design of nanomachines.
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.
Physics Department, Pennsylvania State University, 104 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Jayanth R
JR
Banavar
Marek
M
Cieplak
Trinh Xuan
TX
Hoang
Amos
A
Maritan
D008958:Models, Molecular; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry
D011506:Proteins