Science / Technology
USC Scientists Build Working Model of Life’s Engine
- Research associate Shayantani Mukherjee and USC professor Arieh Warshel liken the rotation of F1-ATPase to that of a fan.
By Robert Perkins on January 23, 2012 11:03 AM
Researchers at USC have built a theoretical working model of the cellular engine that powers all life.
The model will allow scientists to better understand the forces of life at the molecular level and potentially replicate them, including designing miniscule mechanical motors for nanomachines and nanorobots. The work was published online last month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“We were able to take a system that is very complicated and reproduce the crucial action in the system,” said Arieh Warshel, distinguished professor of theoretical chemistry and biophysics at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. “We still have a lot of questions, but this is clearly a large step toward understanding the action of such ubiquitous engines in living systems.”
The body’s cellular engine is a protein molecule whose rotation generates the universal “fuel” - adenosine triphosphate (ATP) - that powers processes in living cells. The 1997 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the scientists who elucidated the structure of this protein and outlined the principles of how it may operate.
The protein rotates, drawing in raw materials and synthesizing them into ATP. This fuel-generating engine can be divided into two parts, one of which is a rotating piece called F1-ATPase.
Warshel and research associate Shayantani Mukherjee built a computer-generated model of F1-ATPase that was remarkably successful at replicating the essential physical forces underlying the workings of the engine, mirroring the cellular motor’s unique unidirectional rotation.
Previous attempts to build such models relied on complex systems in which every atom was represented - making it difficult to determine why the motor is working, Warshel said.
Instead, Warshel and Mukherjee took a bare-bones approach, simplifying the structure - a strategy known in the computational biology world as “coarse-graining.”
“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler,” Warshel said.
Their simplified model rotated in the same manner as F1-ATPase, even pausing at exactly the same places. It also provided the clearest description yet of how the chemical energy of the ATP is used to rotate the motor and why the motor actually works.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
TAGS: life's engine, research
Latest Science / Technology stories
- Time Flies When You Enter a Contest February 21, 2012 1:42 PM
- USC Viterbi Students to Shape Body Engineering February 16, 2012 11:52 AM
- Harvard Scientist to Lead USC Center in Stem Cell Research February 15, 2012 8:30 AM
-
For Journalists »
-
USC in the News
for 2/22/2012 »-
The New York Times highlighted the USC Libraries Scripter Awards, noting that “The Descendants” took the prize for the best adapted screenplay of the year. Screenwriters Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash accepted the award with novelists Kaui Hart Hemmings this past Saturday at USC’s Doheny Memorial Library. Variety reported that USC Libraries Dean Catherine Quinlan served as mistress of ceremonies, feigning dismay over the lack of library-centric films. “Where are all the library movies?” she said. The awards were also covered by United Press International, The Times-Picayune, two Deadline stories (second link here), The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, HitFix and World Entertainment News Network.
Los Angeles Business reported that the USC Rossier School’s Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis has been renamed the Earl and Pauline Pullias Center for Higher Education. The story stated that the re-naming comes after a generous undisclosed gift from the Pullias Family estate. “The Pullias Center can now expand its cutting edge research on postsecondary institutions, as well as its critical community outreach work helping underserved students get into college,” said Rossier Dean Karen Symms Gallagher. Earl Pullias was a founding faculty member of USC’s higher education department in 1957. William Tierney of the Rossier School directs the Pullias Center.
NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” interviewed David Treuer of the USC Dornsife College about his new book, “Rez Life: An Indian’s Journey Through Reservation Life.” The book centers around the reservation Treuer grew up on, and how the Native American experience is often depicted in ways that leave out the happy moments. “There’s this great disconnect between ... how we feel and how we seem,” Treuer said. Treuer’s book was also featured by Minnesota Public Radio, Star-Tribune, Appeal-Democrat, The Spectrum, Baltimore City Paper, The Bemidji Pioneer and Brainerd Dispatch.
KCET-TV featured “The Accidental Feminist” by M.G. Lord of the USC Dornsife College, a new book about the ways in which actress Elizabeth Taylor served as an early feminist icon. Lord said that she came to write the book after spending a weekend watching Taylor movies with friends; they found that in many of Taylor’s movies, she offered veiled feminist messages or embraced her own sexual desire while working within the constraints of the Motion Picture Production Code.
China Internet Information Center (China) featured a screening of the documentary “Assignment: China — The Week That Changed the World,” created by the USC U.S.-China Institute. The documentary follows the American journalists reporting on President Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972. The institute’s Mike Chinoy narrates the documentary.
-
-
Campus News
- Capital Connections
- USC faculty, staff and alumni in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento
- In Print
- New and recent books written or edited by USC faculty and staff
- Family Matters
- Achievements and awards
- Obituaries