Serbian Journal of Electrical Engineering 2012 Volume 9, Issue 1, Pages: 107-119
https://doi.org/10.2298/SJEE1201107S
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Microtubule as nanobioelectronic nonlinear circuit
Sekulić Dalibor L. (Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad)
Satarić Miljko V. (Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad)
In recent years, the use of biological molecules has offered exciting
alternatives to conventional synthetic methods. Specific methods use various
biological templates to direct the deposition and patterning of inorganic
materials. Here we have established a new electrical model of microtubules as
a biological nanoscale circuit based on polyelectrolyte features of
cylindrical biopolymers. Our working hypothesis is that microtubules play an
active role in sub-cellular computation and signaling via electronic and
protonic conductivity and can thus be made useful in hybrid materials that
offer novel electronic characteristics. We verify these hypotheses both
computationally and analytically through a quantitative model based on the
atomic resolution structures of the key functional proteins.
Keywords: nanobioelectronics, microtubule, protein, nano pore, nonlinear circuit