3 x 2 tubulin lattice fields as a MT byte

@johan-nygren · 2018-06-28 19:05 · pneuma

Microtubules are 24 nm in diameter, with a circumference of 75 nm, each tubulin filament occupying 5.8 nm, and with a longitudinal periodicity that of the length of tubulin dimers, 8 nm. The 3 x 2 tubulin lattice has a width of the surface width each tubulin takes up within the microtubule, 5.8 nm x 3 = 17.4 nm, and a height of two tubulin dimers, 8 nm x 2 = 16 nm, approximating a square.

spiral.png

MTbyte.png

In its activated state, CAMKII is 20 nm, and binds to the 3 x 2 lattice field, writing 6 bits of information, a microtubule byte, with 26 (64) possible states.

The image below shows 6 out of 64 possible phosphorylation states in a 3 x 2 lattice field.

membit.png

The width of the 3 x 2 lattice field is curved, and the width adjusted for curvature, if CAMKII binds as if binding to a flat surface, is calculated from 2sinθ/2 where θ is the curved width 17.4 nm / microtubule radius of 12 nm, 1.32627 radians, and multiplied with the radius 12 nm for the adjusted width 15.91524 nm, close to the 16 nm height of the 3 x 2 lattice field.

The 3 x 2 lattice field that CAMKII "sees" is 15.9 nm * 16 nm, almost a perfect square.

sizss.png

fits1.png

The 16 x 16 nm square lattice field below a CAMKII with a diameter of 20 nm.

ciclee.png

To CAMKII, the outer tubulin columns appear compressed relative to the middle column, each roughly 5.05 nm wide instead of 5.8 nm, from how CAMKII "sees" a 15.9 nm flat projection of the 17.4 nm wide tubulin memory block (r2sinθ/2).

compressed.png

The 6-tubulin "bytes" fit perfectly on a B-lattice. The addressing system could perhaps be built on microtubule-associated proteins that form some type of structure along the MT?

mt.png

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