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comment by JonBanes
JonBanes  ·  4076 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Functioning 'mechanical gears' seen in nature for the first time

Well it still uses the proton motor force to power a physical rotation that preforms a conformational change that makes a chemical reaction more favorable, but it's more of a cam than a gear, it is like a gear with one tooth that just pushes on the domain it's at. It's also an example of a molecular axle, it's the same mechanism that makes flagella spin.