{"title":"Structural Dynamics of Contractile Injection Systems.","authors":"Noah Toyonaga, L Mahadevan","doi":"10.1016/j.bpj.2024.11.019","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The dynamics of many macromolecular machines is characterized by chemically-mediated structural changes that achieve large scale functional deployment through local rearrangements of constitutive protein sub-units. Motivated by recent high resolution structural microscopy of a particular class of such machines, contractile injection systems (CIS), we construct a coarse grained semi-analytical model that recapitulates the geometry and bistable mechanics of CIS in terms of a minimal set of measurable physical parameters. We use this model to predict the size, shape and speed of a dynamical actuation front that underlies contraction. Scaling laws for the velocity and physical extension of the contraction front are consistent with our numerical simulations, and may be generally applicable to related systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":8922,"journal":{"name":"Biophysical journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biophysical journal","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2024.11.019","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOPHYSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The dynamics of many macromolecular machines is characterized by chemically-mediated structural changes that achieve large scale functional deployment through local rearrangements of constitutive protein sub-units. Motivated by recent high resolution structural microscopy of a particular class of such machines, contractile injection systems (CIS), we construct a coarse grained semi-analytical model that recapitulates the geometry and bistable mechanics of CIS in terms of a minimal set of measurable physical parameters. We use this model to predict the size, shape and speed of a dynamical actuation front that underlies contraction. Scaling laws for the velocity and physical extension of the contraction front are consistent with our numerical simulations, and may be generally applicable to related systems.
期刊介绍:
BJ publishes original articles, letters, and perspectives on important problems in modern biophysics. The papers should be written so as to be of interest to a broad community of biophysicists. BJ welcomes experimental studies that employ quantitative physical approaches for the study of biological systems, including or spanning scales from molecule to whole organism. Experimental studies of a purely descriptive or phenomenological nature, with no theoretical or mechanistic underpinning, are not appropriate for publication in BJ. Theoretical studies should offer new insights into the understanding ofexperimental results or suggest new experimentally testable hypotheses. Articles reporting significant methodological or technological advances, which have potential to open new areas of biophysical investigation, are also suitable for publication in BJ. Papers describing improvements in accuracy or speed of existing methods or extra detail within methods described previously are not suitable for BJ.