Related papers: How occasional backstepping can speed up a process…
Inspired by recent experiments on the dynamics of particles and polymers in artificial cytoskeletons and in cells, we introduce a modified Langevin equation for a particle in an environment that is a viscoelastic medium and that is brought…
Many biological processes are supported by special molecules, called motor proteins or molecular motors, that transport cellular cargoes along linear protein filaments and can reversibly associate to their tracks. Stimulated by these…
Based on a detailed crossbridge model for individual myosin II motors, we systematically study the influence of mechanical load and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration on small myosin II ensembles made from different isoforms. For…
Expressing the energy content of food as the heat energy released by its combustion is potentially misleading. Food is used to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The free energy of conversion of ATP into adenosine diphosphate is used…
Biological molecular machines are proteins that operate under isothermal conditions hence are referred to as free energy transducers. They can be formally considered as enzymes that simultaneously catalyze two chemical reactions: the free…
We examine the stochastic dynamics of two enzymes that are mechanically coupled to each other, e.g., through an elastic substrate or a fluid medium. The enzymes undergo conformational changes during their catalytic cycle, which itself is…
F$_\mathrm{o}$F$_1$-ATP synthase is a factory for synthesizing ATP in virtually all cells. Its core machinery is the subcomplex F$_1$-motor (F$_1$-ATPase) and performs the reversible mechanochemical coupling. Isolated F$_1$-motor hydrolyzes…
Biomolecular motor proteins that generate forces by consuming chemical energy obtained from ATP hydrolysis are pivotal for organizing broad cytoskeletal structures in living cells. The control of such cytoskeletal structures benefits…
Experimental evidences show that in gene transcription, RNA polymerase has the possibility to be stalled at certain position of the transcription template. This may be due to the template damage, or protein barriers. Once stalled,…
In the presence of ATP, kinesin proceeds along the protofilament of microtubule by alternated binding of two motor domains on the tubulin binding sites. Since the processivity of kinesin is much higher than other motor proteins, it has been…
While the power stroke of myosin and the release of inorganic phosphate (Pi) play crucial roles in transforming ATP's chemical energy into mechanical work across diverse biological systems, the exact temporal relationship between these…
We study the effect of a coupling between two motor domains in highly-processive motor protein complexes. A simple stochastic discrete model, in which the two parts of the protein molecule interact through some energy potential, is…
Protein conformational changes are activated processes essential for protein functions. Activation in a protein differs from activation in a small molecule in that it involves directed and systematic energy flows through preferred channels…
A model for the processive movement of dynein is presented based on experimental observations available. In the model, the change from strong microtubule-binding to weak binding of dynein is determined naturally by the variation of the…
Microtubules are protein polymers that form "molecular highways" for long-range transport within living cells. Molecular motors actively step along microtubules to shuttle cellular materials between the nucleus and the cell periphery; this…
Proteins are large and complex molecular machines. In order to perform their function, most of them need energy, e.g. either in the form of a photon, like in the case of the visual pigment rhodopsin, or through the breaking of a chemical…
Myosin II plays a pivotal role in muscle contraction by generating force through the cooperative action of multiple motors on actin filaments. In this study, we integrate the nonlinear elasticity of the neck linker in individual myosin II…
Synthesis of the biological "energy currency molecule" adenosine triphosphate ATP is accomplished by FoF1-ATP synthase. In the plasma membrane of Escherichia coli, proton-driven rotation of a ring of 10 c subunits in the Fo motor powers…
Molecular motors fulfill critical functions within all living beings. Understanding their underlying working principles is therefore of great interest. Here we develop a simple model inspired by the two-component biomolecular motor Fo-F1…
Multiple experiments show that various submicron particles such as magnetosomes, RNA messengers, viruses, and even much smaller nanoparticles such as globular proteins diffuse anomalously slow in viscoelastic cytosol of living cells. Hence,…