Toward Intelligent Molecular Machines:Directed Motions of Biological and Artificial Molecules and Assemblies

摘要

In the last two decades,considerable progress has been made in the field of molecular biology,which has enabled a molecular-level understanding of a number of interesting biological events.In particular,the discovery of a family of moving proteins and their assemblies has attracted particular attention not only of biologists but also of chemists and physicists.In response to certain biological stimuli,these proteins perform directed or programmed motions,similar to many tools and machines used in our daily life.Such biological molecular machines play essential roles in a wide variety of biological events,particularly those related to the activities of cells,and realize specific functions through their stimuli-responsive mechanical motions.