Abstract
The propulsion of motile cells such as sperms and thetransportof fluids on cell surfaces rely on oscillatory bending of cellularappendagesthat can perform periodic oscillations. These structures are flagella and cilia. Their beating is driven by the interaction between microtubules and motor proteins and the mechanism regulating this is still a puzzle. One approach to address this issue is the assembling of synthetic minimal systems by using natural building blocks, e.g., microtubules and kinesin motors, which undergo persistent oscillation in the presence of ATP. An example of an autonomous molecular systemis reported in this chapter.Itdynamically self-organizes through its elasticity and the interaction with the environment represented by the active forces exerted by motor proteins. The resultingmotion resembles the beating of sperm flagella. Assembling such minimal systems able to mimic the behavior of complex biological structures might help to unveil basic mechanisms underlying the beating of natural cilia and flagella.
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