"Membrane transport systems: ion channels, complexity, and functional dissipative assembly"

“膜传输系统：离子通道、复杂性和功能耗散组装”

• 批准号: 1113-2012
• 负责人: Fyles, Thomas
• 金额: $ 5.1万
• 依托单位: University of Victoria
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2012-01-01 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=513023
• 关键词: Membrane; transport; systems; ion; channels

Living creatures - people, plants, bacteria - have two key characteristics: we continually consume energy, and we burn that energy to maintain the organized structures of our cells. This combination of energy flow to maintain structure, described as dissipative self-assembly, allows our cells to perform a myriad of functions in complex reaction networks. Inspired by nature, supramolecular chemists have been able to mimic some aspects of cellular life. Chemists have had considerable success in creating self-assembled structures, sometimes from within (relatively) complex reaction networks, but these are only assembled near the energy minimum hence are described as equilibrium self-assembly. We have also had success in mimicking some types of functions associated with life using non-living components: replication, catalysis, membrane transport, sensing. Examples of dissipative self-assembled macroscopic structures have been created which cease to exist when the energy flow is removed; however the known examples do not have any functions we might recognize as life-like.

生物--人、植物、细菌--有两个关键特征：我们不断消耗能量，我们燃烧这些能量来维持我们细胞的有序结构。这种维持结构的能量流组合被描述为耗散自组装，允许我们的细胞在复杂的反应网络中执行多种功能。受自然的启发，超分子化学家已经能够模拟细胞生命的某些方面。化学家在创造自组装结构方面取得了相当大的成功，有时是在(相对)复杂的反应网络中，但这些结构只在能量最小的附近组装，因此被描述为平衡自组装。我们还成功地利用非生物成分模拟了与生命相关的某些类型的功能：复制、催化、膜运输、传感。耗散的自组装宏观结构的例子已经被创造出来，当能量流被移除时，它们就不复存在了；然而，已知的例子没有任何我们可能认识到的类似生命的功能。