First-principles design of nanomachines

Abstract

Learning from nature's amazing molecular machines, globular proteins, we present a framework for the predictive design of nano-machines. We show that the crucial ingredients for a chain molecule to behave as a machine are its inherent anisotropy and the coupling between the local Frenet coordinate reference frames of nearby monomers. We demonstrate that, even in the absence of heterogeneity, protein-like behavior is obtained for a simple chain molecule made up of just thirty hard spheres. This chain spontaneously switches between two distinct geometries, a single helix and a dual helix, merely due to thermal fluctuations.

6 pages, 4 figures, +supporting information, to appear in PNAS

References in corpus (3)

• Geometry and symmetry presculpt the free-energy landscape of proteins
• Folding, Design and Determination of Interaction Potentials Using Off-Lattice Dynamics of Model Heteropolymers
• Helical structures from an isotropic homopolymer model

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Effective stiffness and formation of secondary structures in a protein-like model
• The elixir phase of chain molecule
• Local symmetry determines the phases of linear chains: a simple model for the self-assembly of peptide
• Sequence dependent aggregation of peptides and fibril formation
• The configurational space of colloidal patchy polymers with heterogeneous sequences
• Spontaneous dimensional reduction and novel ground state degeneracy in a simple chain model
• Marginally compact phase and ordered ground states in a model polymer with side spheres
• Protein sequence and structure: Is one more fundamental than the other?
• Shapes of hydrophobic thick membranes