Festschrift for Victor A. McKusick on the Centenary of his Birth: Introduction

The cell membrane, or plasma membrane, is an ever-changing landscape. It is described as a fluid mosaic where various macromolecules are embedded in the phospholipid bilayer. Among the macromolecules are proteins. The protein content varies across cell types. For example, mitochondrial inner membranes contain ~76% protein content, while myelin contains ~18% protein content. Individual cells contain many types of membrane proteins—red blood cells contain over 50—and different cell types have...

Among all the organelles in an animal cell, only mitochondria have their own independent genomes. Animal mitochondrial DNA is a double-stranded, closed-circular molecule with around 20,000 base pairs. Mitochondrial DNA is unique in that one of its two strands, the heavy, or H, -strand is guanine rich, whereas the complementary strand is cytosine rich and called the light, or L, -strand. Compared to nuclear DNA, mitochondrial DNA has a very low percentage of non-coding regions and is marked by...

For many years, scientists thought that enzyme-substrate binding took place in a simple "lock-and-key" fashion. This model stated that the enzyme and substrate fit together perfectly in one instantaneous step. However, current research supports a more refined view scientists call induced fit. The induced-fit model expands upon the lock-and-key model by describing a more dynamic interaction between enzyme and substrate. As the enzyme and substrate come together, their interaction causes a mild...

Any object that obeys Newton's second law of motion is made up of a large number of infinitesimally small particles. Objects in motion can be as simple as atoms or as complex as gymnasts performing in the Olympics. The motion of such objects is described about a point called the center of mass of the object. The center of mass of an object is a point that acts as if the whole mass is concentrated at that point. The center of mass of an object with a large number of infinitesimally small...

The center of mass of an object is defined as the mass-weighted average position of all the particles that comprise the object. The significance of the center of mass of an object can be seen by looking at its dynamics. The time derivative of the center of mass gives its velocity, assuming that the object's mass remains constant over time. Furthermore, the total linear momentum of an object can be seen as the linear momentum of a single particle of the object's total mass moving with the...

Humans have been making ships, shelters, pyramids, weapons, agricultural equipment, and many more items without recording the process or theory behind them for centuries. It would be challenging to document the evolution of mechanics from its origin to the present.
According to records, the history of mechanics starts with Aristotle (384–322 BC). He related mechanics to physical theory, aiming for a universal synthesis.
Newton defined mechanics as the branch of physical science that studies the...