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Dinámica extraña de los cristales quirales vivos
Tzer Han Tan1,2,3, Alexander Mietke4, Junang Li1
1Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Nature
|July 13, 2022
Resumen
Los embriones de estrellas de mar que nadan forman espontáneamente grandes y persistentes cristales quirales. Este descubrimiento revela cómo los organismos multicelulares autónomos pueden crear fases de materia activa complejas a través de la autoorganización y las interacciones hidrodinámicas.
Área de la Ciencia:
- La física
- Biología del desarrollo
- Ciencias de los materiales
Sus antecedentes:
- Los cristales activos son estructuras ordenadas formadas por objetos móviles auto-organizados, ampliamente estudiados en sistemas sintéticos y bacterianos.
- El surgimiento del orden cristalino persistente en organismos multicelulares en desarrollo autónomo sigue sin explorarse.
Objetivo del estudio:
- Para investigar si los embriones de estrellas de mar pueden formar espontáneamente cristales quirales persistentes.
- Para entender los mecanismos que controlan la formación, la dinámica y la disolución de estos cristales vivos.
Principales métodos:
- Experimentos con embriones de estrellas de mar que nadan.
- Modelado teórico.
- Simulaciones por computadora.
- Análisis de las propiedades hidrodinámicas y del desarrollo embrionario.
Principales resultados:
- Los embriones de estrellas de mar se ensamblan espontáneamente en cristales quirales a gran escala que persisten durante horas.
- La formación de cristales, la dinámica y la disolución se rigen por la hidrodinámica y el desarrollo del embrión.
- Los cristales quirales vivos exhiben oscilaciones quirales autosuficientes y respuestas de deformación únicas.
Conclusiones:
- Proporciona la primera evidencia experimental de la formación persistente de cristales quirales en organismos multicelulares.
- Demuestra cómo las interacciones no recíprocas en los componentes multicelulares autónomos impulsan las fases de no equilibrio de la materia activa quiral.
- Destaca el papel de la hidrodinámica y el desarrollo en la autoorganización de la materia activa viva.
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