Today, we informed Science about the design of rotary devices made from our own egg white (Rotating egg white designed from the left). These microscopic “axes” and “rotors” combine to form rotating assemblies, instead of occupying only one orientation. Such a mechanical connection is an essential part of every machine. The new axial rotor devices – each about a billion times smaller than poppy seeds – are computer-designed, made from living cells, and studied in the laboratory.
As scientists have noted, there are many molecular mechanisms in nature, from the flagella tails of some bacteria to the F1 ATPase engine. And although such examples serve as good models, attempts to adapt them to nature or create new ones in the laboratory have been particularly unsuccessful. This is due to the intentional properties of natural machinery and the unpredictable folding of proteins in synthetic tests. In this new experiment, scientists overcame some obstacles for others and took a big step towards creating a molecular machine by making the two main components needed for such a device – a shaft and a rotor – and even being able to interconnect them.
This research paves the way for a new generation of nanoscale machines in which the motion of components is powered by solar energy as chemical fuel.
The project (rotating egg white designed from the left) was led by biochemist Alexis Courbet, a postdoctoral fellow in Baker’s laboratory, and Jesse Hansen, a recent graduate student in Justin Kohlman’s laboratory, associate professor of biochemistry at UW Medicine.
“One of our goals is to create nanomachines that can one day circulate blood and autonomously remove unwanted plaques or even cancer cells,” Courbet said. “We know that more complex machines are oftenassembled from simple parts.”
Researchers at Kohlman and Veesler Laboratories in UW Medicine used electron microscopes to visualize the rotation of new protein devices.
This work was partially supported by the Audacious Institute for Protein Design, Open Philanthropy, the National Science Foundation, and the Senior Fellowship of the Washington Research Foundation. You can find a complete list of sponsors in the manuscript.
