A molecular perspective on the limits of life [electronic resource] : Enzymes under pressure
- Published
- Washington, D.C. : United States. National Nuclear Security Administration, 2016.
Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy - Physical Description
- Article numbers 22,801 : digital, PDF file
- Additional Creators
- United States. National Nuclear Security Administration and United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Access Online
- Restrictions on Access
- Free-to-read Unrestricted online access
- Summary
- From a purely operational standpoint, the existence of microbes that can grow under extreme conditions, or “extremophiles”, leads to the question of how the molecules making up these microbes can maintain both their structure and function. While microbes that live under extremes of temperature have been heavily studied, those that live under extremes of pressure have been neglected, in part due to the difficulty of collecting samples and performing experiments under the ambient conditions of the microbe. However, thermodynamic arguments imply that the effects of pressure might lead to different organismal solutions than the effects of temperature. Observationally, some of these solutions might be in the condensed matter properties of the intracellular milieu in addition to genetic modifications of the macromolecules or repair mechanisms for the macromolecules. Here, the effects of pressure on enzymes, which are proteins essential for the growth and reproduction of an organism, and some adaptations against these effects are reviewed and amplified by results from molecular dynamics simulations. The aim is to provide biological background for soft matter studies of these systems under pressure.
- Report Numbers
- E 1.99:1364607
- Subject(s)
- Note
- Published through SciTech Connect.
03/01/2016.
Condensed Matter Physics 19 2 ISSN 1607-324X AM
Qi Huang; Kelly N. Tran; Jocelyn M. Rodgers; Douglas H. Bartlett; Russell J. Hemley; Toshiko Ichiye.
Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC (United States) - Funding Information
- NA0002006
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