For example, see Table 1: https://book.bionumbers.org/how-quickly-do-different-cells-i...
You /could/ compute a global mean or median mitosis rate, and show how it changes/doesn't change with age, but it wouldn't say very much biologically. A narrower analysis that considers cell type and other context could be meaningful.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicase
The wild thing is that it doesn't have a 'gas tank' of ATP to drive the reaction, it goes this fast while being fueled one molecule at a time from the environment.
Where does the ATP come from?
Buckle up my mechanical engineer friend - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT5AXGS1aL8
I've watched that video a hundred times and it still gives me chills haha.
Also you may be interested in flagellar motors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPSm9gJkPxU
If I had these when I was in high school in the 80s I truly think I would have gone into molecular biology. They are obviously have flaws in terms of a true representation of the process, but it makes the machine much more apparent and that's always been the thing that kept it at bay for me.
More of this style of animation can be found in the WEHImovies channel on YouTube
figures are very sparse, for brevity. the real situation is buried in a mantle of molecules.
the animations dont quite capture what individual molecules are doing, but give snapshots of cannonical points in the process. its a very busy bunch of reaction intermediates, and resonance structures, facilitating the exchange of functionalities.
most important was the concept of a function-repair equilibrium machine, as action cycle of the machine is damaging, and requires immediate repair, in addition to the environmental onslaught of damages.
picture having to check a file for corruption every time its accessed.
https://dnalc.cshl.edu/resources/products/3d-brain-app.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20230307055457/https://play.goog...
I can see how a cell is far too complicated to contemplate at this time. But, if focusing on the video of the DNA replication complex. (DNA strand + a few enzymes), I wonder if it could be in the realm of doable within the coming years or decades.
Re water... yea... I suspect explicit solvents are the way to go. So, you are not just simulating the protein and DNA molecules, but also each water.
timschmidt•2mo ago
Some favorites:
https://dnalc.cshl.edu/resources/3d/13-transcription-advance...
https://dnalc.cshl.edu/resources/3d/16-translation-advanced....
https://dnalc.cshl.edu/resources/3d/08-how-dna-is-packaged-a...
https://dnalc.cshl.edu/resources/3d/central-dogma.html
dataviz1000•1mo ago
I stepped over people huddled on the sidewalk, dirty, splicing the fiber optic cable yesterday. I wonder how long before there are little robots that do the splicing without humans?
jcims•1mo ago
From what I’ve gathered the actual splicing is partly automated today and relatively straightforward if somewhat tedious. The big variable is the context. New construction should have relatively few variables.
With repair, everything goes out the window. I just talked to him last night and he was out on a cable cut repair all night Friday. Middle of a snowstorm, maps were not accurate, repair site was very difficult to work in.