3 x 2 tubulin lattice fields as a MT byte

in #pneuma6 years ago (edited)

Microtubules are 24 nm in diameter, with a circumference of 75 nm, each tubulin filament occupying 5.8 nm, and with a longitudinal periodicity that of the length of tubulin dimers, 8 nm. The 3 x 2 tubulin lattice has a width of the surface width each tubulin takes up within the microtubule, 5.8 nm x 3 = 17.4 nm, and a height of two tubulin dimers, 8 nm x 2 = 16 nm, approximating a square.

In its activated state, CAMKII is 20 nm, and binds to the 3 x 2 lattice field, writing 6 bits of information, a microtubule byte, with 26 (64) possible states.

The image below shows 6 out of 64 possible phosphorylation states in a 3 x 2 lattice field.

The width of the 3 x 2 lattice field is curved, and the width adjusted for curvature, if CAMKII binds as if binding to a flat surface, is calculated from 2sinθ/2 where θ is the curved width 17.4 nm / microtubule radius of 12 nm, 1.32627 radians, and multiplied with the radius 12 nm for the adjusted width 15.91524 nm, close to the 16 nm height of the 3 x 2 lattice field.

The 3 x 2 lattice field that CAMKII "sees" is 15.9 nm * 16 nm, almost a perfect square.

The 16 x 16 nm square lattice field below a CAMKII with a diameter of 20 nm.

To CAMKII, the outer tubulin columns appear compressed relative to the middle column, each roughly 5.05 nm wide instead of 5.8 nm, from how CAMKII "sees" a 15.9 nm flat projection of the 17.4 nm wide tubulin memory block (r2sinθ/2).

The 6-tubulin "bytes" fit perfectly on a B-lattice. The addressing system could perhaps be built on microtubule-associated proteins that form some type of structure along the MT?

Sort:  

Thanks for sharing this post,,,,
i really like this

interesting information thanks for sharing that out

Congratulations @johan-nygren! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You published 4 posts in one day

Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

To support your work, I also upvoted your post!

Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard!


Participate in the SteemitBoard World Cup Contest!
Collect World Cup badges and win free SBD
Support the Gold Sponsors of the contest: @good-karma and @lukestokes


Do you like SteemitBoard's project? Then Vote for its witness and get one more award!

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.28
TRX 0.13
JST 0.032
BTC 61146.27
ETH 2924.49
USDT 1.00
SBD 3.58