C. R. Safinya

Materials & Physics Departments, Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology Department

 University of California

Santa Barbara, CA 93106 USA

“Supramolecular assembly of biological molecules: microtubule bundles, necklaces, and bio-nanotubles”

At present there is a surge in interest in biophysical research in elucidating collective interactions between cellular proteins and associated biomolecules leading to supramolecular structures, with the ultimate goal of relating structure to function.  The nerve cell cytoskeleton, provides a rich example of highly ordered bundles and networks of interacting neurofilaments, microtubules (MT) and filamentous actin, where the nature of the interactions, structures and structure-function correlations remain poorly understood.  We present synchrotron x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and optical imaging data, in reconstituted protein systems from the bovine central nervous system, which reveal unexpected structures not predicted by current electrostatic theories of polyelectrolyte bundling, including 3D MT bundles and 2D MT necklaces. 

In collaboration with D. Needleman, U. Raviv, M. Ojeda-Lopez, M. C. Choi, J. Jones, H. Miller, and L. Wilson.