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Micromechanical Measurements on Chemomechanical Protein Aggregates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Stefan Schwan ,
Markus Fritzsche ,
Andreas Cismak ,
Gundula Noll ,
Dirk Prüfer ,
Uwe Spohn  and
Andreas Heilmann
Stefan Schwan
Affiliation:
sw@iwmh.fhg.de, Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM, Biological Materials, Interfaces, Heidealle 19, Halle, 06120, Germany
Markus Fritzsche
Affiliation:
frit@iwmh.fhg.de, Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials Halle, Walter-Hülse-Straße 1, Halle (Saale), 06120, Germany
Andreas Cismak
Affiliation:
cis@iwmh.fhg.de, Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials Halle, Walter-Hülse-Straße 1, Halle (Saale), 06120, Germany
Gundula Noll
Affiliation:
gnoll@uni-muenster.de, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Institute for Biochemistry and Biotechnology of Plants, Hindenburgplatz 55, Münster, 48143, Germany
Dirk Prüfer
Affiliation:
dpruefer@ini-muenster.de, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Institute for Biochemistry and Biotechnology of Plants, Hindenburgplatz 55, Münster, 48143, Germany
Uwe Spohn
Affiliation:
spn@iwmh.fhg.de, Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials Halle, Walter-Hülse-Straße 1, Halle (Saale), 06120, Germany
Andreas Heilmann
Affiliation:
hei@iwmh.fhg.de, Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials Halle, Walter-Hülse-Straße 1, Halle (Saale), 06120, Germany
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Abstract

Chemo-mechanical protein aggregates in plants, e.g. the forisomes of legumes, transform the chemical free energy of their reaction with calcium ions into mechanical energy. Light and scanning electron microscopy analyses demonstrated that the spindle-shaped bodies with lengths between 25 and 40 μm consist of fiber bundle units which change their length and diameter during a reversible switching reaction induced by either calcium, barium, strontium ions or by changes of the pH value. For the determination of forces generated during the switching reaction a force measurement in vitro system based on the bending of thin glass fiber was developed. By using this set-up, dynamical forces of forisomes, in the presence of different alkaline ions, in the range up to 180 nN were measured.

Keywords

biomaterialCachemical reaction
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 975: Symposium DD – Mechanics of Biological and Bio-Inspired Materials , 2006 , 0975-DD03-10
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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References

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