Rotary self-assembly as performed in nature

from the let's-copy-what-works dept.
Japan's Protonic NanoMachine Project has three groups: NanoAssembly, NanoSwitching, and NanoMechanics. A recent publication (in cooperation with other labs) is "The Bacterial Flagellar Cap as the Rotary Promoter of Flagellin Self-Assembly" in the 15 Dec 2000 Science. "Five leg-like anchor domains of the pentameric cap flexibly adjusted their conformation to keep just one flagellin binding site open, indicating a cap rotation mechanism to promote the flagellin self-assembly. This represents one of the most dynamic movements in protein structures."