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twall11347243
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I ran across a term called 'isothermal settling' where you have an exponential distribution of particles - with more at the bottom and fewer at the top and how it relates to the cellular environment.
My question is to what degree does isothermal settling (and the overall effect of gravity) occur inside the cell with regard to soluble proteins/DNA/molecules? I know that proteins/enzymes/DNA/molecules do not settle in the cell even though they are more dense due to Brownian motion, but are they 'closer to the bottom' in the cell than the top - such as in isothermal settling? I thought the cytosol would be a 'homogenous solution', however if isothermal settling happens inside the cell - which I believe it does but am not sure, then having more of everything skewed towards the bottom due to gravity doesn't seem very homogenous to me. Wouldn't this have negative effects on cellular processes? I always thought that gravity was negligible at the molecular level in the cell. Is this true? What about intercellular transport and diffusion at the synapse, is that negatively 'hindered' by gravity at all since more dense/heavier molecules would 'sediment'?
This may seem obsessive but it's something I'm very confused about and I appreciate it if anyone here can help me.
My question is to what degree does isothermal settling (and the overall effect of gravity) occur inside the cell with regard to soluble proteins/DNA/molecules? I know that proteins/enzymes/DNA/molecules do not settle in the cell even though they are more dense due to Brownian motion, but are they 'closer to the bottom' in the cell than the top - such as in isothermal settling? I thought the cytosol would be a 'homogenous solution', however if isothermal settling happens inside the cell - which I believe it does but am not sure, then having more of everything skewed towards the bottom due to gravity doesn't seem very homogenous to me. Wouldn't this have negative effects on cellular processes? I always thought that gravity was negligible at the molecular level in the cell. Is this true? What about intercellular transport and diffusion at the synapse, is that negatively 'hindered' by gravity at all since more dense/heavier molecules would 'sediment'?
This may seem obsessive but it's something I'm very confused about and I appreciate it if anyone here can help me.