CRC TRR 61 C01 - Cooperative interactions of molecular rotational motor complexes

Basic data for this project

Description

The goal of this project is to understand coordination, self organisation and stable binding of molecular motors by hydrodynamic interactions and to analyse them experimentally using a novel combination of holographic optical multifocus tweezers and nonlinear microscopy especially developed for the purpose of this project. The expected results will be of importance for a number of different further project steps. Especially, the defined binding of arrays of molecular motors on surfaces will become possible using the results of these investigations. In order to obtain results in the broadest way possible, an exemplary model system is chosen as a molecular dynamic motor system - a bacterial rotational molecular motor. With this tool, it is on the one hand possible to visualize and analyse cooperative interaction, on the other hand defined interaction scenarios can be realised allowing a systematic study of the underlying nonlinear mechanisms. They in turn allow a consistent theoretical modelling of the dynamics of molecular motion that is the basis for every hybrid molecular assembly of dynamic, spatially extended nanosystems.