1. Microtubules as One-Dimensional Crystals: Is Crystal-Like Structure the Key to the Information Processing of Living Systems?
- Author
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Pushpendra Singh, Anirban Bandyopadhyay, Satyajit Sahu, M. A. Palomino-Ovando, Kanad Ray, J. Eduardo Lugo, Miller Toledo-Solano, Noemi Sánchez-Castro, and Jocelyn Faubert
- Subjects
General Chemical Engineering ,transmission network ,02 engineering and technology ,Signal ,crystal ,Inorganic Chemistry ,Crystal ,Quantitative Biology::Subcellular Processes ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Microtubule ,lcsh:QD901-999 ,Molecule ,General Materials Science ,Translational symmetry ,Cytoskeleton ,Electrical impedance ,Physics ,Quantitative Biology::Biomolecules ,biology ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Condensed Matter Physics ,030227 psychiatry ,Tubulin ,tubulin ,biology.protein ,Biophysics ,lcsh:Crystallography ,0210 nano-technology ,microtubule - Abstract
Each tubulin protein molecule on the cylindrical surface of a microtubule, a fundamental element of the cytoskeleton, acts as a unit cell of a crystal sensor. Electromagnetic sensing enables the 2D surface of microtubule to act as a crystal or a collective electromagnetic signal processing system. We propose a model in which each tubulin dimer acts as the period of a one-dimensional crystal with effective electrical impedance related to its molecular structure. Based on the mathematical crystal theory with one-dimensional translational symmetry, we simulated the electrical transport properties of the signal across the microtubule length and compared it to our single microtubule experimental results. The agreement between theory and experiment suggests that one of the most essential components of any Eukaryotic cell acts as a one-dimensional crystal.
- Published
- 2021
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