(Continued from previous message)

draw another M13 virus towards it (Butler et al., Physical Review
Letters, 11 July 2003; also see Phys. Rev. Focus, 21 July 2003,
http://focus.aps.org/ ).
In a third experiment, researchers noticed that the like-charge
attractions could cause actin molecules to organize themselves into
a novel phase of liquid crystal (a structure with both liquid-like
and solid-like properties).   Adding small amounts of magnesium ions
to a solution of actin rods caused the rods to arrange themselves
into a stack of 2-dimensional rafts ((see figure at
http://www.aip.org/mgr/png/2003/198.htm ).  This discovery may
revise notions of how cells control the actin cytoskeleton..
Previously, researchers assumed that only proteins could do all the
work in assembling this structure, which helps the cell to move,
shape itself and divide.  However, this newly discovered phase opens
the possibility that physical interactions--electrostatics, electric
charge, and entropy--could work synergistically with proteins to
regulate the cytoskeleton in a wide range of cellular functions
(Wong et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 4 July 2003).

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