Electronics of nature's Nano Circuits
The group has successfully detected electric current through a single molecule of a protein, measuring just 5 nanometres long.
(5 billionths of a meter)
Electric current is key in many natural processes including detection of light in the eye, photosynthesis and respiration.
The team showed that the protein could carry large currents, equivalent to a human hair carrying one amp. The team also discovered that current flow could be regulated in much the same way as transistors, the tiny devices driving computers and smartphones, work but on a smaller scale: the proteins are only a quarter of the size of current silicon based transistors.
Collaborators Dr Martin Elliott and Dr Emyr Macdonald, School of Physics and Astronomy added: "The highly conducting nature of this protein was a surprise and the result raises questions about the fundamental nature of electron transfer in proteins.
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