Engineering topics
Gim, Bopil
Publications and source records attributed to Gim, Bopil.
Tubulin Double Helix: Lateral and Longitudinal Curvature Changes of Tubulin Protofilament
By virtue of their native structures, tubulin dimers are protein building blocks that are naturally pre-programmed to assemble into cytoskeletal polymers known as microtubules (MTs). Here we demonstrate polycation-directed (i.e. electrostatically tunable) assembly of tubulins through tubulin protofilament conformational changes in the longitudinal and lateral directions, creating novel tubulin double helices and various tubular architectures. Synchrotron small angle X-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy reveal a remarkable range of nanoscale assembly structures: single- and double-layered double-helix tubulin tubules. The phase transitions from MTs into the new assemblies are dependent on the size and concentration of polycations. Two characteristic scales that determine the number of observed phases are the size of polycation compared to the size of tubulin (≈4 nm) and MT diameter (≈25 nm). This work suggests the feasibility of “programmable breakdown” of protein nanotubes, tearing MTs into double-stranded tubulins and building up previously undiscovered nanostructures, by using polycations with scissor- and glue-like properties. Importantly, we define a new role of tubulins as two-dimensionally shape-controllable building blocks for novel supramolecular architectures. Furthermore, these findings provide insight into the design of protein-based functional materials, for example, as metallization templates for nanoscale electronic devices, kinesin motor-driving molecular screws, and anticancer drug delivery vehicles.
Coalescence preference in densely packed microbubbles
A bubble merged from two parent bubbles with different size tends to be placed closer to the larger parent. This phenomenon is known as the coalescence preference . Here we demonstrate that the coalescence preference can be blocked inside a densely packed cluster of bubbles. We utilized high-speed high-resolution X-ray microscopy to clearly visualize individual coalescence events inside densely packed microbubbles with a local packing fraction of ~40%. Thus, the surface energy release theory predicts an exponent of 5 in a relation between the relative coalescence position and the parent size ratio, whereas our observation for coalescence in densely packed microbubbles shows a different exponent of 2. We believe that this result would be important to understand the reality of coalescence dynamics in a variety of packing situations of soft matter.