What Are Molecular Motors?

Molecular motor refers to a nano system composed of biological macromolecules that uses chemical energy to perform mechanical work. All the activities of living organisms, including muscle contraction, material transport, DNA replication, cell division, etc., traced to the molecular level are the result of the work of protein-macromolecules with motor functions, so they are called molecular motors or protein motors. .

Molecular motor

The molecular motors mainly include kinesin, myosin, dynein, DNA helicase, RNA polymerase, and rotary molecular motor, etc. The body is involved in a series of important life activities such as cytoplasmic transport, DNA and RNA replication, cell division, muscle contraction, and ATP synthesis. Generally, people divide them into linear molecular motors and rotary molecular motors according to their movement mechanism. Linear molecular motors include kinesin, myosin, and dynein, etc. Rotary molecular motors mainly include ATP synthase, bacterial flagella, and various Door motors and more. The structure of linear molecular motors can be divided into head, neck and tail. Experiments have shown that linear molecular motors move in the form of hand-over-hand (alternate hands, or articulation). In this mode, the two arms of the protein alternately guide the movement, as if the person walks with their feet alternately.

1.Kinesin

The molecular motor works by a small amount of value-added, and changes in the conformation of the protein can be used for guided movement. It requires a movement track that guides the assembly of the motor for regular movement to pass a certain distance. In fact, we have previously encountered a class of molecular motors that make use of the molecular machinery we are about to involve, that is, moving along DNA and RNA trajectories

Human-controlled molecular motors can create nanorobots (also called molecular robots).

At present, humans cannot make robots as small as nanometers, partly because they cannot find a sufficiently small kinetic energy device. Since the molecular motor can convert biological energy into mechanical energy, once it is perfectly controlled by humans, it can fully serve as the engine of nano robots. The molecular motor can be regarded as the simplest nano-robot, like a myosin molecular motor with two "legs", which can perform linear advancing motion. In the human body, one of its major functions is to move inside the cell. Small bubbles and other materials, in theory, if you put it in a basket, it can also transport other things.

At present, scientists are still studying how to combine multiple molecular motors or connect them with other molecules to form a slightly "complex" machine. In the laboratory, scientists have made a propeller consisting of 350 atoms, a 2.5 nanometer elevator, and 3 nanometer scissors, all of which can be considered as the prototype of a nano robot.

The potential applications of nano-robots are very wide, and one of the most important is the application in the medical field. For example, scientists at the University of Florida in the United States recently developed a nanorobot that can kill HCV 100%. This nanorobot consists of two groups of substances: one is an enzyme that can attack and destroy RNA (participating in the replication of hepatitis C-related proteins), and the other is an oligonucleotide that recognizes disease-related proteins and sends the enzymes to eliminate harm . In cell culture and mouse experiments, this new method has achieved nearly 100% efficiency without any side effects, such as immune system reactions. This new result has promoted the development of medical nano-robots and is currently gradually moving towards clinical applications. ^[3]