Enzyme-powered active matter

Unlike conventional self-assembly using passive colloidal particles, non-equilibrium self-organization using active particles exhibit diverse patterns and assembly formations. Self-organization has been widely studied in physics and biology, ranging from the collective motion of flocks of birds and schools of fish in macroscale to light activated colloidal particles in the microscale. Recently, it has been found that enzymatic proteins in cells are also ‘active’: Upon consumption of substrates, enzymes become superdiffusive. However, the characterization of such nanoscale systems is very complicated. We are studying the details of the superdiffusivity of this system with the Ross group at Syracuse University and the Ahmed group at Cal State Fullerton by combining enzymes with DNA origami particles. Not only will this allow us to investigate the mechanisms of enzyme-powered enhanced transport using a bottom-up approach, but we can also create novel synthetic active materials of programmable geometry and size.

References:

Non-equilibrium fluctuations and nonlinear response of an active bath, H. Seyforth, M. Gomez, W. B. Rogers, J. L. Ross, W. W. Ahmed, Physical Review Research, 4 (2), 023043

Comparison of different approaches to single-molecule imaging of enhanced enzyme diffusion, M Xu, WB Rogers, WW Ahmed, JL Ross, arXiv preprint arXiv:2012.15424