Diffusion, crowding & protein stability in a dynamic molecular model of the bacterial cytoplasm.

ABSTRACT: A longstanding question in molecular biology is the extent to which the behavior of macromolecules observed in vitro accurately reflects their behavior in vivo. A number of sophisticated experimental techniques now allow the behavior of individual types of macromolecule to be studied directly in vivo; none, however, allow a wide range of molecule types to be observed simultaneously. In order to tackle this issue we have adopted a computational perspective, and, having selected the model prokaryote Escherichia coli as a test system, have assembled an atomically detailed model of its cytoplasmic environment that includes 50 of the most abundant types of macromolecules at experimentally measured concentrations. Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations of the cytoplasm model have been calibrated to

SUBMITTER: McGuffee SR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2832674 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature