Figures
A molecular model of the bacterial cytoplasm.
The cytoplasm of the gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli is very densely packed with macromolecules, and this highly crowded environment is expected to have a significant impact on the diffusive and thermodynamic properties of its constituents. Continuing progress in the field of structural biology now allows molecular simulations of the cytoplasm to be performed with structurally detailed models, providing a new, computational view of macromolecular behavior in vivo (see McGuffee, Elcock, doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000694).
Image Credit: Adrian H Elcock (University of Iowa)
Citation: (2010) PLoS Computational Biology Issue Image | Vol. 6(3) March 2010. PLoS Comput Biol 6(3): ev06.i03. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pcbi.v06.i03
Published: March 26, 2010
Copyright: © 2010 McGuffee, Elcock. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
The cytoplasm of the gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli is very densely packed with macromolecules, and this highly crowded environment is expected to have a significant impact on the diffusive and thermodynamic properties of its constituents. Continuing progress in the field of structural biology now allows molecular simulations of the cytoplasm to be performed with structurally detailed models, providing a new, computational view of macromolecular behavior in vivo (see McGuffee, Elcock, doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000694).
Image Credit: Adrian H Elcock (University of Iowa)