Latest RESEARCH
CHAOS RESEARCH
Chemists Control the Hurricane
Spontaneous structure for-
mation and complex chaos
are some of nature’s most
fascinating phenomena. Now,
for the very first time, scien-
tists led by Prof. Gerhard Ertl
at the Fritz Haber Institute
of the Max Planck Society,
Berlin, have succeeded in not
only observing, but also con-
trolling chaotic structures in
a chemical reaction. They
have managed to transform a
chaotic system into an or-
dered one (SCIENCE, 18 May
2001). Scientists had previ-
ously predicted the new
structures through mathe-
matical modelling.
When the smallest of changes
in the initial state have enor-
mous consequences on the
product, scientists talk of
chaos. This includes the cli-
mate, the creation of turbu-
lence in liquid flows, and the
aggregation of bacteria in
biological systems. However,
chemical reactions can also
take place in a chaotic manner.
Scientists at the Fritz Haber
Institute chose the catalytic
conversion of carbon monoxide
Various patterns into carbon dioxide for their
in the oxidation
investigations. The reaction
reaction of carbon
monoxide on a
takes place on a platinum (110)
platinum surface, single crystal catalyst and is a
captured using type of model reaction. The
special microscopic atoms formed from gaseous
technology. The oxygen molecules are securely
blue areas are cov- attached to the surface of the
ered mainly with platinum and wait here for
oxygen and the
their reaction partner – a car-
red areas with
bon monoxide molecule. This
carbon monoxide.
moves freely and jumps, so to
Left to right:
chaotic spiral
speak, across the surface. When
waves and ring it finds an oxygen atom, the
structures created two can join together to form
artificially by
means of feed-
back, regular
domains, and
stripe patterns.
12 M A X P L A N C K R E S E A R C H
carbon dioxide which immedi-
ately leaves the surface again.
In certain conditions, the prod-
uct flow is not constant and
self-organized patterns form
on the surface. Ertl and his col-
leagues therefore took a closer
look at what goes on here.
They are able to view the
process using the special “pho-
toelectron emission micro-
scope” also developed by the
Fritz Haber Institute. What is
noticeable is that the spatial
covering patterns are accom-
panied by temporal fluctua-
tions (oscillations) within a cy-
cle of only a few seconds. The
oxygen and carbon monoxide
fronts appear in different
colours in the video image. We
can see that they form spiral-
shaped turbulence, similar to a
hurricane. The scientists con-
verted this hurricane into an
ordered pattern of coverage.
Using mathematical model
calculations, theorists working
with Alexander Mikhailov have
predicted that it is possible to
suppress the chaotic structures
using a feedback loop. New
patterns, previously hidden in
the chaos, would thereby
emerge. Harm Hinrich Roter-
mund is the scientist in charge
of these experiments. He and
his group have gradually creat-
ed chequered patterns, stripes,
and uniformly oscillating
waves. They were able to
achieve this by feeding the
information coming from the
microscope back to the reac-
tion vessel. A computer re-
ceives the current and continu-
ously carries out new calcula-
tions to determine whether or
not the carbon monoxide valve
4 / 2 0 0 1
requires further opening or
closure. This takes place with a
specific time delay that can be
varied along with the intensity
of the feedback signal.
Under these experimental con-
ditions, the new patterns were
able to develop in a self-orga-
nized manner. The Max Planck
researchers have thereby pro-
vided evidence that high-di-
mension chaos can be con-
trolled using simple methods.
“The principles that we con-
ceived for this simple system
can be applied to other prob-
lems,” says Gerhard Ertl. The
scientists are now working on
the development of more com-
plex feedback systems which
would enable them to synchro-
nize systems consisting of more
than two partners. “In this way
it may be possible for the yield
of a desired product to be en-
hanced, and the formation of
unwanted byproducts to be
suppressed during a chemical
reaction,” explains Ertl. ●
@ Further information
can be obtained from:
DR. HARM HINRICH ROTERMUND
Fritz Haber Institute of the
Max Planck Society, Berlin
tel.: +49-30/8413-5129
fax: +49-30/8413-5106
e-mail:
rotermun@fhi-berlin.mpg.de
BIOCHEMISTRY
Silencing Specific Genes
Scientists from the Max Planck
PHOTOS: FRITZ-HABER-INSTITUTE OF THE MAX PLANCK SOCIETY
Institute for Biophysical Chem-
istry, Göttingen, have developed
a relatively simple and universal
method of silencing individual
genes. This method has now been
successfully tested for the very
first time in human cell cultures.
The concept of “RNA interfer-
The results of ence” is simple and can be ap-
experiments on plied in principle to any RNA
CO oxidation (left)
sequence. It represents an ideal
and its mathe-
tool for functional genome
matical modelling
(right). Space-time analysis and could open up
diagrams are given new therapeutic perspectives
for two different in the long term. (NATURE,
patterns in each 24 May 2001).
case along a cut
surface – above Ever since the discovery of genes,
chaotic ring struc- scientists have been interested in
tures, below isolating individual genes in order
regular domains.
to understand how they function
or to prevent the development
of genetic defects and diseases.
However, it often took years of
hard work to silence just one single
gene. The new procedure now
seems capable of achieving this
within a much shorter time scale
and is suitable for all types of
genes. Thomas Tuschl devised the
procedure at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in Boston
(USA) and put it into practice last
year together with Sayda Elbashir
in his working group at the Max
Planck Institute for Biophysical
Chemistry, Göttingen. In collabora-
tion with Jens Harborth and Klaus
Weber, both scientists succeeded in
silencing specific individual genes
in human cells. This procedure
therefore offers a new and highly
specific method of examining the
functioning of human genes. This
is of particular interest as the se-
quence of most genes encoded in
the human genome have now been
identified. Yet, their function still
remains largely unknown. Using
this new method, it will now be
possible to carry out the specific
and selective isolation of different
RNA variants, which make up the
complexity of the human genome.
In the long-term, it may also be
possible to eliminate gene-specific
that there is an “anti-sense ma-
defects. The latter is particularly
interesting for therapeutic applica-
tions.
How does the “RNA interference”
method work? Genes are made up
from a string of nucleotide build-
ing blocks (DNA). These chains of
nucleotides are transcribed into
so-called messenger RNAs (mRNA)
which supply the cell with the
building instructions for the re-
spective proteins. If so-called siRNA
molecules are locked into the cell,
this leads to the destruction of the
target mRNA. This is broken up
into small fragments, thereby los-
ing its ability to provide the build-
ing instructions for a specific
protein. The new method does
not eliminate the gene but only its
functional product – the messen-
ger RNA is “intercepted”, so to
speak. The construction of the ap-
propriate siRNA molecules is so
specific that, in each case, they de-
stroy only the messengers of a sin-
gle gene. “RNA interference is simi-
lar in principle to the anti-sense
method”, says Thomas Tuschl. “An
RNA sequence complementary to
the messenger RNA is also used
here. However, we add in the anti-
sense RNA in the form of a double-
stranded RNA.”
A decisive factor in this scientific
breakthrough was the discovery
that trapped nucleotide chains
must consist of 21 nucleotide
building blocks. RNA molecules of
this length can recruit proteins in
the cell that have so far remained
unknown. These proteins then form
a complex which carries out the
recognition and cleavage of the
cognate mRNA molecule. Observa-
tions in the fruit fly Drosophila
melanogaster have further assisted
the scientists in this area: when
extremely long double-stranded
RNA sequences were introduced
into the cells, these were split by
an enzyme into double-stranded
RNA with a length of predomi-
nantly 21 nucleotides. The individ-
ual stages of the silencing process
in the cell are still not understood.
However, the scientists suspect
4/2001 M A X
Latest RESEARCH
chine” in each cell, which possibly
wards off viruses and transposable
elements. A protein complex, which
still remains largely unknown, evi-
dently checks all mRNA molecules
in the cell that it comes across.
mRNAs containing the same se-
quence as the delivered RNA dou-
ble strand are cleaved, while mR-
NAs with a different sequence re-
main unchanged. Through the syn-
thesis of sequence-specific RNA
FIG.: MPI FOR BIOPHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
double strands, researchers are able
to determine which particular tar-
get mRNA is to be destroyed.
The siRNA-based knockdown pro-
cedure is much more reliable than
conventional anti-sense methods
because standard anti-sense tech-
In order to demonstrate the silencing of a specific
gene expressed in a human cell, an RNA double strand
was directed against a segment selected from the cod-
ing sequence of the lamin A/C gene which encodes a
component of the inner cell membrane (a). The effect
is demonstrated by means of immunofluorescence
microscopy: in most cases, the corresponding protein
did not continue to form. In a control experiment,
whereby one RNA double strand was used against
one sequence which does not exist in a human cell,
no effect can be observed (b). In the lower sequence
(c+d), the influence of both RNA double strands was
investigated in each case on a different gene with
a different sequence. In this particular case, no reduc-
tion was observed. The effect is therefore specific.
nology normally requires the test-
ing of thousands of anti-sense se-
quences in order to find one that
specifically blocks the expression
of a given gene. In contrast, almost
any siRNA cognate to the targeted
gene is believed to work. The re-
searchers therefore regard this
as a breakthrough for functional
genome analysis. To find out about
the functions of the 30,000 or
P L A N C K R E S E A R C H 13