The universality–diversity paradigm (UDP) is the analysis of
biological materials based on the
universality and
diversity
Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to:
Business
*Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce
*Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers
* ...
of its fundamental
structural element
In structural engineering, structural elements are used in structural analysis to split a complex structure into simple elements (each bearing a structural load). Within a structure, an element cannot be broken down (decomposed) into parts of dif ...
s and functional mechanisms. The analysis of
biological system
A biological system is a complex Biological network inference, network which connects several biologically relevant entities. Biological organization spans several scales and are determined based different structures depending on what the system is ...
s based on this classification has been a cornerstone of modern
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
.
Example: proteins
For example,
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...
s constitute the elementary building blocks of a vast variety of biological materials such as
cells,
spider silk
Spider silk is a protein fibre or silk spun by spiders. Spiders use silk to make webs or other structures that function as adhesive traps to catch prey, to entangle and restrain prey before biting, to transmit tactile information, or as nest ...
or bone, where they create extremely robust,
multi-functional materials by
self-organization
Self-organization, also called spontaneous order in the social sciences, is a process where some form of overall order and disorder, order arises from local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system. The process can be spont ...
of structures over many length- and
time scales, from nano to macro. Some of the structural features are commonly found in many different tissues, that is, they are
highly conserved. Examples of such universal building blocks include
alpha-helices,
beta-sheet
The beta sheet (β-sheet, also β-pleated sheet) is a common structural motif, motif of the regular protein secondary structure. Beta sheets consist of beta strands (β-strands) connected laterally by at least two or three backbone chain, backbon ...
s or
tropocollagen molecules. In contrast, other features are highly specific to tissue types, such as particular
filament
The word filament, which is descended from Latin ''filum'' meaning " thread", is used in English for a variety of thread-like structures, including:
Astronomy
* Galaxy filament, the largest known cosmic structures in the universe
* Solar filament ...
assemblies, beta-sheet
nanocrystals in spider silk or
tendon
A tendon or sinew is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue, dense fibrous connective tissue that connects skeletal muscle, muscle to bone. It sends the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system, while withstanding tensi ...
fascicles. This coexistence of universality and diversity is an overarching feature in biological materials and a crucial component of
materiomics. It might provide guidelines for bioinspired and
biomimetic material development, where this concept is translated into the use of inorganic or hybrid organic-inorganic building blocks.
See also
*
Bionics
Bionics or biologically inspired engineering is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology.
The word ''bionic'', coined by Jack E. Steele in August 195 ...
*
Materiomics
*
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...
*
Phylogenetics
In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...
References
*
Going nature one better (MIT News Release, October 22, 2010).
S. Cranford, M. Buehler, Materiomics: biological protein materials, from nano to macro, Nanotechnology, Science and Applications, Vol. 3, pp. 127–148, 2010.
*
S. Cranford, M.J. Buehler, Biomateriomics, 2012 (Springer, New York).
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Biology
Materials science
Biological matter
Natural materials