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Tubulin response to intense nanosecond-scale electric field in molecular dynamics simulation
- Source :
- Scientific Reports, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-14 (2019), Scientific Reports
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Nature Publishing Group, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Intense pulsed electric fields are known to act at the cell membrane level and are already being exploited in biomedical and biotechnological applications. However, it is not clear if electric pulses within biomedically-attainable parameters could directly influence intra-cellular components such as cytoskeletal proteins. If so, a molecular mechanism of action could be uncovered for therapeutic applications of such electric fields. To help clarify this question, we first identified that a tubulin heterodimer is a natural biological target for intense electric fields due to its exceptional electric properties and crucial roles played in cell division. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we then demonstrated that an intense - yet experimentally attainable - electric field of nanosecond duration can affect the bβ-tubulin’s C-terminus conformations and also influence local electrostatic properties at the GTPase as well as the binding sites of major tubulin drugs site. Our results suggest that intense nanosecond electric pulses could be used for physical modulation of microtubule dynamics. Since a nanosecond pulsed electric field can penetrate the tissues and cellular membranes due to its broadband spectrum, our results are also potentially significant for the development of new therapeutic protocols.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Materials science
Static Electricity
lcsh:Medicine
Molecular Dynamics Simulation
Article
Cell membrane
03 medical and health sciences
Molecular dynamics
0302 clinical medicine
intense electric fields
Biophysical chemistry
Electric field
medicine
Humans
Cytoskeleton
lcsh:Science
Binding Sites
Multidisciplinary
biology
lcsh:R
molecular dynamics
protein
tubulin
Nanosecond
Electric Stimulation
Computational biology and bioinformatics
030104 developmental biology
medicine.anatomical_structure
Tubulin
Membrane
Biological target
Biophysics
biology.protein
lcsh:Q
Biological physics
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scientific Reports, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-14 (2019), Scientific Reports
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....2e1daec1839d4cb2def6ef50cfc4ac94