Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
LIMITATIONS TO SELF-ASSEMBLY
Self-assembly is a powerful mechanism for bringing subunits together to form a macromol-
ecular complex, and it is used extensively for small-scale structures throughout biology. It
does, however, suffer from a number of limitations that prevent its use for large-scale and
complex structures. The most serious limitation of pure self-assembly is its inflexibility. Small,
stand-alone structures such as simple viruses are self-contained and do not have to be aligned
precisely with anything else. There is therefore no need for them to be able to be flexible
enough to adapt their forms according to circumstances. Even where some degree in adapta-
tion is available
d
for example, as in TMV in which RNA that is shorter or longer than wild
type will be packaged using fewer or more than the normal number of proteins (within lim-
its)
d
the complete information for assembly resides within the components involved, and no
notice need be taken of anything external. Where structures form a part of larger entities such
as cells and embryos, information carried in subunits is not enough because the precise layout
of the larger entity is unpredictable, either because of random noise and error in its internal
workings, or because it exists in an unpredictable environment. For these structures, self-
assembly is not enough and the feedback systems described briefly in Chapter 2 are added
to turn mere self-assembly into adaptive self-organization.
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