This was affirmed by a study published in Nature Communications conducted by a team of researchers led by Andrea Markelz at the University of Buffalo in the state of New York. The research clears the path to a new way of studying the fundamental cellular processes that make life possible.
Our body too has its own music.
The body too has its own music. A genuine symphony of life produced by the vibrations of proteins that modulate their movements like violin strings. It is thanks to these movements that proteins can change shape rapidly so as to bind to other proteins enabling vital functions in our body, such as breathing and the duplication of DNA, to take place.
This was affirmed by a study published in Nature Communications conducted by a team of researchers led by Andrea Markelz at the University of Buffalo in the state of New York. The researchers were able to observe, for the first time in detail, the vibrations of lysozyme, an antibacterial protein found in many animals by using a technique which they themselves developed. The team discovered that the vibrations, which were previously considered to diminish quickly, in fact persist in the molecules like the “sound of a bell.”
“These small movements – said Markelz – allow the proteins to change shape quickly so that they can easily bind to other proteins; a process that is necessary for our body to carry out critical biological functions such as absorbing oxygen, repairing other cells and replicating the genetic code.” The research clears the path to a new way of studying the fundamental cellular processes that make life possible. In the future, the technique used could be applied to document how inhibitors, whether they be natural or artificial, block vital functions that proteins carry out. “We can now – said Markelz – try to understand the real structural mechanisms underlying these biological processes and how they are controlled.”
Abstract from the original article in: Nature Communications