Engineering Biology Problems Book (2021, Obninsk Edition)

60,000 of them. And if a human senses a sweet taste if the sugar concentration in the solution is 0.02
mol/l, bees feel it at 0.06 mol/l, and the moth-admiral Pyrameis Atalanta - at 0.01 mol/l [10].
[9,10. Bey-Bienko G. Ya. General entomology. - 3rd edition., add. - M.: Higher. school, 1980 — - 416
p., ill. Zatvatkin Yu. A., Course of general entomology, Moscow, "Kolos", 2001-376 p.]
1.27. Leather for the car. The surface properties of metals and their oxides are not very suitable for
the cultivation of eukaryotic cells. On the other hand, it is known that bacterial biofilms accompany
modern technology, polluting its surfaces. Suggest a way to organize living flesh on a metal
endoskeleton, for example, using an intermediate form in the form of symbiotic microorganisms.
SOLUTION:
The reader is invited to choose a model organism from several candidate microorganisms, for
example, lithoautotrophs or iron bacteria [11].
[11. Hedrich, S., Schlömann, M., & Johnson, D. B. (2011). The iron-oxidizing proteobacteria.
Microbiology, 157(6), 1551-1564. DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.045344-0]
1.28. Wonder Beat S Nanomotor. The movement of soil bacteria Myxococcus Xanthus is enabled by
the rotation of flagella using T4PM molecular motors in the membrane with 1.5×10-16 W per
flagellum (Fig. 1.7). Combining this motor in liposome membranes or on the surface of non-liposomal
vectors, propose a mechanism for directed or controlled transport of such "nanorobots" in the human
body. [12]
SOLUTION:
One can imagine a mechanism for directional movement of an object with such an engine along a
concentration gradient of some substance in a living organism, such as calcium.
[12. Chang Y-W, Rettberg LA, Treuner-Lange A, Iwasa J, Søgaard-Andersen L, Jensen GJ, et al.
Architecture of the type IVa pilus machine. Science (New York, NY) 2016;351:aad2001.
doi:10.1126/science.aad2001.]
Figure 1.7: Model of the T4PM protein complex: with flagella (left) and empty (right) © Science,
2016.
1.29. The Living Desalination Plant. The problem of desalination and water purification plays a
major role in Southeast Asian societies. Filters being developed for this purpose have received
extensive support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Charitable Foundation. Propose a biological filter
device that would surpass the functionality of algae or the glomerular organoids of mammalian
kidneys.
SOLUTION:
Maxwell's Demon was an 1867 thought experiment that looked at "smart" semi-permeable
membranes capable of reducing the entropy of closed systems, for example by separating molecules
by velocity or mass.