Vesicle Chemistry: A New Way To Get Life-Like...( That is because the molecules inside th...)

That is because the molecules inside the cell -- driven by thermal energy -- are continuously careening off each other and bouncing off the cell's membrane wall. The researchers estimate that a single enzyme and a single substrate -- a molecule that the enzyme reacts with -- will bounce off each other about 300,000 times per second in a moderately sized vesicle and the substrate will bounce off the membrane about 200 million times per second.

There are other approaches to creating extremely small volumes to study chemical reactions. But most of these use methods such as micromachining small wells in silicon wafers that create environments with physical characteristics closer to that of glass than that of living cells. So they are not as effective for studying biochemical reactions, Zare says.

Other contributors to the research were: Stanford graduate students Daniel T. Chiu, Clyde F. Wilson and Alexander Moscho; Stanford undergraduates Anuj Gaggar and Biren P. Modi; University of Göteborg assistant professor Owe Orwar and his students Frida Ryttsén, Anette Strömberg, Cecilia Farre, Anders Karlsson and Sture Nordholm. Professor Roberto A. Garza-Lòpez from Pomona College also participated in the research.

The project was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research; and the Swedish Natural Science Research Council.

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Contact: David F. Salisbury
salisbury@stanford.edu
650-725-1944
Stanford University
19-Mar-1999

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