Enemark, S. and Deriu, Marco Agostino and Soncini, Monica (2006) Mechanical properties of tubulin molecules by molecular dynamics simulations. In: ASME 8th Biennial Conference on Engineering Systems Design and Analysis, 04.07.2006-07.07.2006, Torino, Italy.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
The basic unit in microtubules is αβ-tubulin, a heterodimer consisting of an α- and a β-tubulin monomer. The mechanical characteristics of the dimer as well as of the individual monomers may be used to obtain new insight into the microtubule tensile properties. In the present work we evaluate the elastic constants of each of the monomers and the interaction force between them by means of molecular dynamics simulations. Molecular models of α-, β-, and αβ-tubulin were developed starting from the 1TUB.pdb structure from the RSCB database. Simulations were carried out in a solvated environment using explicit water molecules. In order to measure the monomers' elastic constants, simulations were performed by mimicking experiments carried out with atomic force microscopy. A different approach was used to determine the interaction force between the α- and β-monomers using 8 different monomer configurations based on different inter-monomer distances. The obtained results show an elastic constant value for α-tubulin of 3.4-3.9 N/m, while for the β-tubulin the elastic constant was measured to be 1.8-2.4 N/m. The maximum interaction force between the monomers was estimated to be 11.2 nN. In perspective, these outcomes will allow exchanging atomic level description with key mechanical features enabling microtubule characterisation by continuum mechanics approach. Copyright © 2006 by ASME.
| Item Type: | Article in conference proceedings or Presentation at a conference (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | cited By 0; Conference of 8th Biennial ASME Conference on Engineering Systems Design and Analysis, ESDA2006 ; Conference Date: 4 July 2006 Through 7 July 2006; Conference Code:68828 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Elastic constants; Interaction force; Microtubules; Tubulin molecules, Atomic force microscopy; Computer simulation; Continuum mechanics; Dimers; Elastic moduli; Mechanical properties; Molecular dynamics; Tensile properties, Monomers |
| Subjects: | Biological Sciences Engineering |
| Depositing User: | Marco Agostino Deriu |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Oct 2017 05:21 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Oct 2017 05:21 |
| URI: | http://repository.supsi.ch/id/eprint/8829 |
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