Related papers: Internal friction as possible key factor governing…
Mechanical algesia is an important process for the preservation of living organisms, allowing potentially life-saving reflexes or decisions when given body parts are stressed. Yet, its various underlying mechanisms remain to be fully…
In various biological systems information from many noisy molecular receptors must be integrated into a collective response. A striking example is the thermal imaging organ of pit vipers. Single nerve fibers in the organ reliably respond to…
Voltage-gated ion channels are essential for propagating signals in neurons. Each channel senses the local membrane potential created by nearby ions. Fluctuations in these ions introduce two fundamental noise sources: (i) shot noise, from…
Proteins can be regarded as thermal nanosensors in an intra-body network. Upon being stimulated by Terahertz (THz) frequencies that match their vibrational modes, protein molecules experience resonant absorption and dissipate their energy…
In this article we compare electrical conductance events from single channel recordings of three TRP channel proteins (TRPA1, TRPM2 and TRPM8) expressed in human embryonic kidney cells with channel events recorded on synthetic lipid…
Thermogenesis is a physiological activity of releasing heat that originates from intracellular biochemical reactions. Recent experimental studies discovered that externally applied heat changes intracellular signaling locally, resulting in…
Ion channels are proteins with a hole down the middle embedded in cell membranes. Membranes form insulating structures and the channels through them allow and control the movement of charged particles, spherical ions, mostly Na+, K+, Ca++,…
In recent past, experiments and simulations have suggested that apart from the solvent friction, friction arising from the protein itself plays an important role in protein folding by affecting the intra-chain loop formation dynamics. This…
Temperature sensing is a ubiquitous cell behavior, but the fundamental limits to the precision of temperature sensing are poorly understood. Unlike in chemical concentration sensing, the precision of temperature sensing is not limited by…
We consider two different kinds of fluctuations in an ion trap potential: external fluctuating electrical fields, which cause statistical movement (``wobbling'') of the ion relative to the center of the trap, and fluctuations of the spring…
We investigate the thermopower of a metal-molecule-metal junction taking into account thermal effects on the junction. Based on analytical expressions and numerical simulations we show that the thermoelectric potential reveals valuable…
A neurophysiological thesis is proposed for thermal sensitivity that accounts for the disorder in physical processes that is fundamental to temperature. There is likely some form of thermal equilibrium rapidly established between…
Novel physical mechanism is proposed for explanation of temperature-independent transition reactions in molecular systems. The mechanism becomes effective in the case of conformation transitions between quasi-isoenergetic molecular states.…
For ion channel gating, the appearance of two distinct conformational states and the discrete transitions between them is essential, and therefore of crucial importance to all living organisms. We show that the physical interplay between…
We consider an exactly tractable model of the Kramers type for the voltage-dependent gating dynamics of single ion channels. It is assumed that the gating dynamics is caused by the thermally activated transitions in a bistable potential.…
An intense controversy has surrounded the mechanism of voltage-gating in ion channels. We interpreted the two leading models of voltage-gating with respect to the thermodynamic energetics of membrane insertion of the voltage-sensing…
The electrical conductance of molecular junctions may strongly depend on the temperature, and weakly on molecular length, under two distinct mechanisms: phase-coherent resonant conduction, with charges proceeding via delocalized molecular…
Thermodynamic transport phenomena in the system consisting of many hard-disks confined in a circular tube with a temperature difference are discussed. Here, temperatures on parts of the walls of the tube are imposed by stochastic boundary…
The interfacial thermal resistance determines condensation-evaporation processes and thermal transport across material-fluid interfaces. Despite its importance in transport processes, the interfacial structure responsible for the thermal…
The function of membrane-embedded proteins such as ion channels depends crucially on their conformation. We demonstrate how conformational changes in asymmetric membrane proteins may be inferred from measurements of their diffusion. Such…