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We show that a reversible pumping mechanism operating between two states of a kinetic network can give rise to Poisson transitions between these two states. An external observer, for whom the pumping mechanism is not accessible, will…
We provide evidence that the energy landscapes of folded proteins do not shift with temperature, but the onset of functional dynamics is associated with its effective sampling. The motion of the backbone is described by three distinct…
In nature interactions between biopolymers and motor proteins give rise to biologically essential emergent behaviours. Besides cytoskeleton mechanics, active nematics arise from such interactions. Here we present a study on 3D active…
Protein motions occur on multiple time and distance scales. Large-scale motions of protein tertiary-structure elements, i.e. domains, are particularly intriguing as they are essential for the catalytic activity of many enzymes and for the…
We present a model of an ATP-fueled molecular machine which push a polymer through a pore channel. The machine acts between two levels (working-waiting), and the working one remains active for a fixed time giving a constant force. The…
ATPases cyclically convert chemical energy in the form of ATP gradients into directed motion inside cells. To function, ATPases rely on allosteric communication between at least two binding sites, an internal signaling mechanism that is not…
Marine microorganisms often reach high swimming speeds, either to take advantage of evanescent nutrient patches or to beat Brownian forces. Since this implies that a sizable part of their energetic budget must be allocated to motion, it is…
Biological molecular machines are bifunctional enzymes that catalyze two processes: one donating free energy and the other accepting it. Recent studies show that most protein enzymes have rich stochastic dynamics of transitions between the…
F1-ATPase catalyses ATP hydrolysis and converts the cellular chemical energy into mechanical rotation. The hydrolysis reaction in F1-ATPase does not follow the widely believed Michaelis-Menten mechanism. Instead, the hydrolysis mechanism…
In eukaryotic cells, many motor proteins can move simultaneously on a single microtubule track. This leads to interesting collective phenomena like jamming. Recently we reported ({\it Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 95}, 118101 (2005)}) a lattice-gas…
Systems with two species of active molecular motors moving on (cytoskeletal) filaments into opposite directions are studied theoretically using driven lattice gas models. The motors can unbind from and rebind to the filaments. Two motors…
Cytoskeletal networks are foundational examples of active matter and central to self-organized structures in the cell. In vivo, these networks are active and heavily crosslinked. Relating their large-scale dynamics to properties of their…
We study stochastic copying schemes in which discrimination between a right and a wrong match is achieved via different kinetic barriers or different binding energies of the two matches. We demonstrate that, in single-step reactions, the…
The statistics of steps and dwell times in reversible molecular motors differ from those of cycle completion in enzyme kinetics. The reason is that a step is only one of several transitions in the mechanochemical cycle. As a result,…
ATP-hydrolysis is the basic energy source of many physiological processes, but there is a lack of knowledge regarding its biological role other than energy transfer and thermogenesis. Not all the energy released by ATP-hydrolysis could be…
The dynamics of molecular motors which occasionally detach from a heterogeneous track like DNA or RNA is considered. Motivated by recent single molecule experiments, we study a simple model for a motor moving along a disordered track using…
Biological molecular motors are high-performance nanomachines that convert chemical energy into mechanical motion via chemomechanical coupling. Their reaction cycles typically comprise a series of intermediate chemical states between the…
A very simple system like a parallel-plate capacitor reveals striking features when we examine the peculiar phenomena appearing when it is moving at low speed in different directions. Both hidden momentum and hidden energy appear and their…
The movement of single kinesin molecules was observed while applying noisy external forces that mimic intracellular active fluctuations. We found kinesin accelerates under noise, especially when a large hindering load is added. The behavior…
The composite cytoskeleton, comprising interacting networks of semiflexible actin and rigid microtubules, actively generates forces and restructures using motor proteins such as myosins to enable key mechanical processes including cell…