Биофизика и биотехнологии. Biophysics and biotechnologies. Учебное пособие

Министерство науки и высшего образования Российской Федерации НОВОСИБИРСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ТЕХНИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ

С. В. НИКРОШКИНА Н. В. ЕЛФИМОВА

БИОФИЗИКА И БИОТЕХНОЛОГИИ

BIOPHYSICS

AND BIOTECHNOLOGIES

Утверждено Редакционно-издательским советом университета

в качестве учебного пособия

НОВОСИБИРСК

2023

READING

1. Read the text and translate it:

BIOPHYSICS

Biophysics is that branch of knowledge that applies the principles of physics and chemistry and the methods of mathematical analysis and computer modeling to biological systems, with the ultimate goal of understanding at a fundamental level the structure, dynamics, interactions, and ultimately the function of biological systems. Biophysics seeks to explain biological function in terms of the physical properties of specific molecules. The size of these molecules varies from small fatty acids and sugars (~1 nm = 10–9 m), to macromolecules like proteins (5–10 nm), starches (>1000 nm), and the enormously elongated DNA molecules (over 10,000,000 nm = 1 cm long but only 20 nm wide). These building blocks of living organisms assemble into cells, tissues, and whole organisms by forming complex individual structures with dimensions of 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000 nm and larger. Thus, proteins assemble into the casein micelles of milk, which aggregate to form the curd of cheese; proteins and ribonucleic acids assemble into ribosomes, the machinery for building proteins; lipids and proteins assemble into cell membranes, the external barriers and internal surfaces of cells; and proteins and DNA wind up into chromosomes, the carriers of the genetic code.

Much effort in biophysics is directed to determining the structure and dynamics of specific biological molecules and of the larger architecture into which they assemble. Some of this effort involves inventing new methods and building new instruments for viewing these dynamic structures in action. In addition, biophysicists are increasingly concerned with the mechanical properties of biological systems, on length scales from nanometers to meters.

Biophysics is relevant to medicine, and many biophysicists direct their investigations towards biomolecules that play a key role in disease. Examples include Alzheimer’s disease, ALS (“Lou Gehrig’s disease”), HIV, diabetes, breast cancer, and multiple sclerosis. Consequently, although the central focus of Biophysics is on basic science rather than medical applications, many of our biophysicists have close interactions with medical school faculties.

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The biological questions of interest to biophysics are as diverse as the organisms of biology:

How do linear polymers of only 20 different amino acids fold into proteins with precise three-dimensional structures and specific biological functions?

How does a single, enormously long DNA molecule untwist and exactly replicate itself during cell division?

How does RNA fold into complex 3-D structures and carry out highly sophisticated transactions when it is composed of four chemically-similar nucleotides?

How are sound waves, or photons, or odors, or flavors, or touches, detected by a sensory organ and converted into electrical impulses that provide the brain with information about the external world?

How does a muscle cell convert the chemical energy of ATP hydrolysis into mechanical force and movement?

How does the cell membrane, a lipid barrier impermeable to watersoluble molecules, selectively transport such molecules through its nonpolar interior?

Biophysics seeks to answer these questions using a highly interdisciplinary approach that combines chemical and biochemical analysis for identifying molecules and spectroscopic techniques and computational methods to examine relationships between their physical properties and biological function. In so doing, biophysics explains biological functions in terms of molecular mechanisms: precise physical descriptions of how individual molecules work together like tiny “nanomachines” to produce specific biological functions.

DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL VOCABULARY WORKING OUT THE MEANING OF UNKNOWN WORDS

2. The following words in the box are all from the text above. Find them in the text:

3. For each word, read the sentence it occurs in and answer the questions:

a)Is the word positive, negative or neutral?

b)Is it a noun, adjective, adverb or verb?

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c) Can you think of a word with a similar meaning (synonym) and one with an opposite meaning (antonym)?

AFTER READING TASKS

4. Answer the questions:

1.What principles does biophysics apply to biological systems?

2.What does biophysics seek to explain?

3.How can the size of the molecules vary?

4.What does biophysics try to do with biological molecules?

5.Can we say that biophysics is related to medicine? Why?

6.What are the biological questions of interest to biophysics?

7.What kind of approach does biophysics combine?

8.In what terms does biophysics explain biological functions of molecular mechanisms?

5.Fill in the gaps:

1.Biophysics is that branch of knowledge that applies … and chemistry and the methods of mathematical analysis and computer modeling to biological systems.

2.Biophysics seeks to explain biological function in … of the physical

…of specific molecules.

3.The building blocks of living organisms, assemble into…, … , and whole organisms by forming … individual structures.

4.Proteins … into the casein micelles of milk, which aggregate to form the curd of cheese.

5.Proteins and ribonucleic acids assemble into … , the machinery for building proteins.

6.Lipids and proteins assemble into… …, the external barriers and internal surfaces of cells.

7.Proteins and DNA wind up into …, the carriers of the genetic code.

8.The central focus of Biophysics is on … … rather than medical applications.

9.How does a single, enormously long DNA molecule … and exactly

…itself during cell division?

10.How does a muscle cell convert the chemical energy of ATP … into mechanical force and movement?

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11.Biophysics uses a highly … approach that combines chemical and biochemical analysis for identifying molecules and spectroscopic techniques.

12.Biophysics explains biological functions in terms of … mechanisms.

6. Find the corresponding prepositions for the following words in the text and write Russian equivalents:

1.to apply the methods …-

2.to assemble …-

3.relationships between …-

4.to convert energy …-

5.to fold … proteins-

6.in terms … mechanisms-

7.to replicate itself … cell division-

8.to be composed … four chemically-similar nucleotides-

9.to transport such molecules … its non-polar interior-

10.to play a key role … disease-

7.Find the matching phrases. Make up your own sentences with the phrases:

8. Match the words to their definitions. Translate them into Russian:

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9. Fill in the glossary.Translate from Russian into English:

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1.Биофизика (биологическая физика) – наука о физических и фи- зико-химических механизмах взаимодействий, лежащих в основе биологических процессов, протекающих на разных уровнях организации живой материи: молекулярном, клеточном, организменном и популяционном. Её возникновение было стимулировано и подготовлено физиологией и биохимией, а само становление и развитие проходило при тесном взаимодействии биологии с физикой, физической химией

иматематикой.

2.Из последних достижений ученых можно отметить два: во-пер- вых, группа американских исследователей из Университета Мичиган под руководством С.Дж. Вайса открыла один из генов, ответственных за «трехмерность» развития биологической ткани, во-вторых, ученые из Японии показали, что механические напряжения помогают создать искусственные сосуды. Японские ученые поместили стволовые клетки внутрь полиуретановой трубки и пропускали через трубку жидкость под переменным давлением. Параметры пульсирования и структуры механических напряжений были примерно теми же, что и в реальных человеческих артериях. Результат обнадеживает – стволовые клетки «превратились» в клетки выстилки кровеносных сосудов. Эта работа

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