Related papers: Loose mechanochemical coupling of molecular motors
The efficiency at maximum power (EMP) for tight-coupling molecular motors is investigated within the framework of irreversible thermodynamics. It is found that the EMP depends merely on the constitutive relation between the thermodynamic…
Quantifying the outcomes of cells collisions is a crucial step in building the foundations of a kinetic theory of living matter. Here, we develop a mechanical theory of such collisions by first representing individual cells as extended…
Recent experiments demonstrate that molecular motors from the Myosin II family serve as cross-links inducing active tension in the cytoskeletal network. Here we revise the Brownian ratchet model, previously studied in the context of active…
Simulations can help unravel the complicated ways in which molecular structure determines function. Here, we use molecular simulations to show how slight alterations of a molecular motor's structure can cause the motor's typical dynamical…
We consider a molecular machine described as a Brownian particle diffusing in a tilted periodic potential. We evaluate the absorbed and released power of the machine as a function of the applied molecular and chemical forces, by using the…
Many biological functions are executed by molecular machines, which consume energy and convert it into mechanical work. Biological machines have evolved to transport cargo, facilitate folding of proteins and RNA, remodel chromatin and…
Life relies on a sophisticated metabolic molecular machinery that turns over high-energy molecules to evolve complex macromolecules and assemblies. At the molecular origin of life, such machinery was absent, implying the need for simple yet…
Chemical affinities are responsible for driving active matter systems out of equilibrium. At the nano-scale, molecular machines interact with the surrounding environment and are subjected to external forces. The mechano-chemical coupling…
We investigate the efficiency of systems of molecular motors operating at maximum power. We consider two models of kinesin motors on a microtubule: for both the simplified and the detailed model, we find that the many-body exclusion effect…
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…
Mobile microscopic bodies, such as motile cells, can be modelled phenomenologically as ``active particles'' which can move against external forces by depleting an internal energy depot. The microscopic mechanisms underlying such ``active''…
We consider nano-sized artificial or biological machines working in steady state enforced by imposing non-equilibrium concentrations of solutes or by applying external forces, torques or electric fields. For unicyclic and strongly coupled…
A hopping model for molecular motors is presented consisting of a state with asymmetric hopping rates with period 2 and a state with uniform hopping rates. State changes lead to a stationary unidirectional current of a particle. The current…
Enzymatic molecules that actively support many cellular processes, including transport, cell division and cell motility, are known as motor proteins or molecular motors. Experimental studies indicate that they interact with each other and…
Transport of molecular motors along protein filaments in a half-closed geometry is a common feature of biologically relevant processes in cellular protrusions. Using a lattice gas model we study how the interplay between active and…
The collective behavior of chemically propelled sphere-dimer motors made from linked catalytic and noncatalytic spheres in a quasi-two-dimensional confined geometry is studied using a coarse-grained microscopic dynamical model. Chemical…
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…
There are many processes in biology in which mechanical forces are generated. Force-bearing networks can transduce locally developed mechanical signals very extensively over different parts of the cell or tissues. In this article we conduct…
The generation of unidirectional motion has been a long-standing challenge in engineering of molecular motors and, more generally, machines. A molecular motor is characterized by a set of low energy states that differ in their…
Molecular machines are stochastic systems that catalyze the energetic processes keeping living cells alive and structured. Inspired by the examples of F1-ATP synthase and the bacterial flagellum, we present a minimal model of an externally…