Molecular Machines

The studies of molecular machines and their application are very active at this moment because of their long-standing prospective. All that attention of the whole scientific community started with the award of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry to John Walker and Paul Boyer in 1997 for their work in elucidating the mechanism of the rotary generator of ATP in the mitochondrion. The expected benefits of their uses are now well known: ultimate size, possibility to design finely-tuned molecular devices and their low energy consumption. All above has inspired the design and synthesis of a variety of compounds that resemble macroscopic machinery. This book brought together different research works which discuss different strategies to synthesize and study molecules demonstrating original mechanical properties at the nanometre and at the atomic scale. The book is divided on three parts, as the first one provides detailed introduction to the field of molecular machines and motors, and their advances and perspectives. The next part of the book commences with a description of the functions of the molecular motors, including kinesins and dyneins, as well as their putative roles in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, after which R. Erickson et al. presents the significant evidence that cargos in vivo are carried by multiple motors. Three studies on molecular microtubule motors then follow - by M. Gazzola et al., by K. Bartoli et al. and by Z. Katsimitsoulia et al. This part ends with two articles which discuss the structure and role of the bacterial flagellar motor. The last third part gives a detailed review of real examples for natural and artificial molecular machines used in the practise. The area of knowledge for the molecular machine is expanding continuously. Therefore, molecular machines for sensing, for nucleotide recognition, and molecular machines involved in distinct steps in neurotransmitter release are also discussed here.