Several oligomers constructed with (1R,2S)-2-aminocyclobutane-1-carboxylic acid and glycine, β-alanine, and γ-amino butyric acid (GABA), respectively, joined in alternation have been synthesized and studied by means of NMR and CD experiments as well as with computational calculations. Results account for the spacer length effect on folding and show that conformational preference for these hybri...

The helical coiling of plant tendrils has fascinated scientists for centuries, yet the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Moreover, despite Darwin's widely accepted interpretation of coiled tendrils as soft springs, their mechanical behavior remains unknown. Our experiments on cucumber tendrils demonstrate that tendril coiling occurs via asymmetric contraction of an internal fiber ribbon of ...

The aggregation of proteins is central to many aspects of daily life, including food processing, blood coagulation, eye cataract formation disease and prion-related neurodegenerative infections. However, the physical mechanisms responsible for amyloidosis-the irreversible fibril formation of various proteins that is linked to disorders such as Alzheimer's, Creutzfeldt-Jakob and Huntington's dis...

A close to native structure of bulk biological specimens can be imaged by cryo-electron microscopy of vitreous sections (CEMOVIS). In some cases structural information can be combined with X-ray data leading to atomic resolution in situ. However, CEMOVIS is not routinely used. The two critical steps consist of producing a frozen section ribbon of a few millimeters in length and transferring the...

The non linear development of instabilities driven by the presence of an electric current is investigated for magnetized jets using 3-dimensional MHD simulations. General magnetic equilibria for cold supermagnetosonic jets with constant velocity are considered in order to study the influence of the initial configuration on the non linear evolution. It is found that the current density is redist...

The crystal structure of an 8-mer (S)-GNA duplex is presented. As a tool for phasing, the anomalous diffraction of two copper(II) ions within two artificial metallo-base pairs was employed. The duplex structure confirms a canonical Watson-Crick base pairing scheme of GNA with antiparallel strands. The duplex secondary structure is distinct from canonical A- and B-form nucleic acids and can be d...

We propose that the key structural feature in the conversion of chemical free energy into mechanical work by actomyosin is a myosin-induced change in the length of the actin filament. As reported earlier, there is evidence that helical actin filaments can untwist into ribbons having an increased intersubunit repeat. Regular patterns of actomyosin interactions arise when ribbons are aligned with...

Perversions connecting two helices with symmetric handedness are a common occurrence in nature, for example in tendrils. These defects can be found in our day life decorating ribbon gifts or when plants use tendrils to attach to a support. Perversions arise when clamped elastic filaments coil into a helical shape but have to conserve zero overall twist. We investigate whether other types of per...

In nature, plant tendrils can produce two fundamental motion modes, bending and chiral twisting (helical curling) distortions, under the stimuli of sunlight, humidity, wetting or other atmospheric conditions. To date, many artificial plant-like mechanical machines have been developed. Although some previously reported materials could realize bending or chiral twisting through tailoring the samp...

Rod MOFs are metal-organic frameworks in which the metal-containing secondary building units consist of infinite rods of linked metal-centered polyhedra. For such materials, we identify the points of extension, often atoms, which define the interface between the organic and inorganic components of the structure. The pattern of points of extension defines a shape such as a helix, ladder, helical...