Cells & molecules
The structures inside living cells: virus shells, ribosomes, mitochondria, ion channels, molecular motors, prions and the microbiome. Each topic lists only known properties from the cited papers; potential uses appear only when researchers proposed them.
- Cell membranes and ion channels1 studies · Ion channels are protein pores in cell membranes that let specific ions through. Roderick MacKinnon's potassium channel structure earned a share of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
- Human microbiome and the gut-brain axis3 studies · Trillions of microbes live in and on the human body. The Human Microbiome Project mapped healthy communities, and animal studies link gut microbes to brain and stress responses.
- Mitochondria, chloroplasts and endosymbiosis1 studies · The endosymbiotic theory, championed by Lynn Margulis (publishing as Lynn Sagan in 1967), holds that mitochondria and chloroplasts began as free-living bacteria taken in by ancestral cells.
- Molecular motors and the cytoskeleton5 studies · Cells move cargo and change shape using protein motors that walk along a scaffold of filaments, the cytoskeleton. ATP synthase is a rotary motor that makes the cell's energy currency.
- Prions1 studies · Prions are infectious agents made of protein. Stanley Prusiner coined the term in 1982 and received the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
- Ribosome structure2 studies · Ribosomes are the cell's protein factories. Atomic structures of ribosome subunits, solved around 2000, led to the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Venki Ramakrishnan, Thomas Steitz and Ada Yonath.
- Virus capsids and self-assembly2 studies · Many viruses pack their genes in a protein shell (capsid) built from repeated identical units that assemble themselves. Researchers also use empty capsids as tiny containers for materials.