Researchers from Bengaluru and Dresden have found a singular two-component molecular motor that makes use of a form of renewable chemical power to tug vesicles towards membrane-bound organelles.
Researchers have found a novel molecular system that makes use of different chemical power and employs a novel mechanism to carry out mechanical work.
The researchers, whose work has been revealed within the journal Nature Physics, are from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, the Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life and the Biotechnology Center of the Technische Universität Dresden in Dresden, Germany.
Motor proteins are exceptional molecular machines inside a cell that converts chemical power saved in a molecule known as ATP, into mechanical work. The most distinguished instance is myosin which helps our muscle tissues to maneuver.
In distinction, GTPases, that are small proteins, haven’t been considered as molecular drive mills. One instance is a molecular motor composed of two proteins, EEA1 and Rab5, mentioned NCBS.
“Our results show that the proteins EEA1 and Rab5 work together as a two-component molecular motor system that can transfer chemical energy into mechanical work. As a result, they can play active mechanical roles in membrane trafficking. It is possible that the force-generating molecular motor mechanism maybe conserved across other molecules and used by several other cellular compartments,” mentioned Marino Zerial of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics.
Overall, the researchers hope that this new interdisciplinary examine may open new analysis avenues in each molecular cell biology and biophysics.
