IMPORTANCE OF EXCLUDED VOLUME AND HYDRODYNAMIC INTERACTIONS ON MACROMOLECULAR DIFFUSION IN VIVO.

ABSTRACT: The interiors of all living cells are highly crowded with macromolecules, which results in a considerable difference between the thermodynamics and kinetics of biological reactions in vivo from that in vitro. To begin to elucidate the principles of intermolecular dynamics in the crowded environment of cells, employing Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations, we examined possible mechanism(s) responsible for the great reduction in diffusion constants of macromolecules in vivo from that at infinite dilution. In an E. coli cytoplasm modelcomprised of 15 different macromolecule types at physiological concentrations, where macromolecules were represented by spheres with their Stokes radii, BD simulations were performed with and without hydrodynamic interactions (HI). With

SUBMITTER: Ando T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4295833 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature