Many biological functions are executed by molecular machines, which like man-made motors are powered by chemical energy, released by adenosine triphosphate hydrolysis. They have evolved to transport cargo, facilitate folding of proteins and ribonucleic acids, remodel chromatin, and replicate DNA. Biological machines also serve as the most natural systems for illustrating emergent phenomena in nonequilibrium active systems, thus providing a great impetus to illustrate the general principles governing their functions. Despite their architectural diversity, physics-based theories have provided unifying themes of the inner working of nanoscale biological machines. The theories address questions such as how the trade-off between precision, energetic costs, and optimal performances are balanced. However, many complexities associated with biological machines require molecular level descriptions. Simple point mutations in the enzyme could drastically alter functions, result in unexpected diseases, or dramatically restrict the capacity of molecular chaperones to help proteins fold. These examples are reminders that, while the search for principles of generality in biology is intellectually stimulating and necessary, molecular details must be accounted for to develop a deeper understanding of their functions.

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关于生物机器的理论观点

许多生物功能是由分子机器执行的，就像人造电动机一样，它们是由三磷酸腺苷水解释放的化学能驱动的。它们已经进化为运输货物，促进蛋白质和核糖核酸的折叠，重塑染色质和复制DNA。生物机器也是最自然的系统，用于说明非平衡主动系统中的紧急现象，从而为说明控制其功能的一般原理提供了强大的动力。尽管它们的体系结构是多种多样的，但是基于物理学的理论却提供了纳米级生物机器内部工作的统一主题。这些理论解决了一些问题，例如如何在精度，能量成本和最佳性能之间进行权衡。然而，与生物机器相关的许多复杂性需要分子水平的描述。酶中的简单点突变可能会极大地改变功能，导致意外疾病，或显着限制分子伴侣蛋白帮助蛋白质折叠的能力。这些例子提醒我们，虽然在生物学上寻求普遍性原则是很刺激的，而且是必要的，但必须考虑分子的细节，以加深对其功能的了解。