Scientists Discover a New Class of “Molecular Motors”

Cells possess a remarkable ability to organize their interiors using minuscule protein machines known as molecular motors, which generate directed motion. Most molecular motors rely on a common form of chemical energy, ATP, to function. Recently, a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG), the Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life (PoL), the Biotechnology Center (BIOTEC) of TU Dresden, and the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in India uncovered a novel molecular system that utilizes an alternative energy source and features a new mechanism for executing mechanical tasks.



This molecular motor, which operates similarly to a traditional Stirling engine through repeated contraction and expansion, assists in distributing cargo to membrane-bound organelles. It is the first motor using two components, two differently sized proteins, Rab5 and EEA1, and is driven by GTP instead of ATP. The findings were recently published in the journal Nature Physics.

Motor proteins are remarkable molecular machines within a cell that converts chemical energy, stored in a molecule called ATP, into mechanical work. The most prominent example is myosin which helps our muscles to move. In contrast, GTPases which are small proteins have not been viewed as molecular force generators. One example is a molecular motor composed of two proteins, EEA1 and Rab5.

#Chemistry #Biology #Science#OrganicChemistry #Biochemistry #MolecularBiology#ChemicalEngineering #Biotechnology #Nanotechnology#Genetics #CellBiology #MolecularModeling

#Pharmacology #Proteomics #StructuralBiology#SyntheticChemistry #Microbiology #GeneEditing#MaterialsScience #Bioinformatics #Immunology


Website Link: https://molecularbiologist.org/

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