Fractal Patterns Define Behavior of Molecules in Cell Nuclei

September 22, 2009

The mathematics of fractals, which, for example, describes the shapes of coastlines in terms of self-similar features, may also help to keep cell biology in order.

Seeking to account for the way that cells' nuclei hold molecules that manage DNA, researchers Sebastien Huet and Aurelien Bancaud (European Molecular Biology Laboratory, in Heidelberg) tracked the movement of molecules within cells in a laboratory dish, and then compared results to fractal patterns, that is, to those rough shapes that are identical at all scales.

Larger protein molecules, they found, moved around obstacles in the same fashion as smaller molecules—suggesting that the environment is, indeed, fractal. The mystery of how cells maintain distinct compartments of gene activity, despite the dynamic behavior of the proteins that regulate DNA, may have been cracked open.

"It's a really interesting approach," said Angus Lamond (University of Dundee). "It's very promising that the fractal model appears to be able to describe the [molecular] behavior in this way."

Source: Nature, Sept. 4, 2009.