Related papers: Vectorial Loading of Processive Motor Proteins: Im…
Intracellular transport of large cargoes, such as organelles, vesicles or large proteins, is a complex dynamical process that involves the interplay of ATP-consuming molecular motors, cytoskeleton filaments and the viscoelastic cytoplasm.…
We study the ensemble velocity of non-processive motor proteins, described with multiple chemical states. In particular, we discuss the velocity as a function of ATP concentration. Even a simple model which neglects the strain-dependence of…
A cell is polarised when it has developed a main axis of organisation through the reorganisation of its cytosqueleton and its intracellular organelles. Polarisation can occur spontaneously or be triggered by external signals, like gradients…
Motor proteins are active enzyme molecules that play a crucial role in many biological processes. They transform the chemical energy into the mechanical work and move unidirectionally along rigid cytoskeleton filaments. Single-molecule…
The cooperative action of many molecular motors is essential for dynamic processes such as cell motility and mitosis. This action can be studied by using motility assays in which the motion of cytoskeletal filaments over a surface coated…
The transport phenomena of Lennard-Jones molecules through a structural bottleneck driven by an external force are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. We observe two distinct molecular flow regimes distinguished by a critical…
Living systems often exhibit internal driving: active, molecular processes drive nonequilibrium phenomena such as metabolism or migration. Active gels constitute a fascinating class of internally driven matter, where molecular motors exert…
The dynamics of single cell migration on flat surfaces is usually modeled by a Langevin-like problem consisting of ballistic motion for short periods and random walk. for long periods. Conversely, recent studies have revealed a previously…
Movements of molecular motors on cytoskeletal filaments are described by directed walks on a line. Detachment from this line is allowed to occur with a small probability. Motion in the surrounding fluid is described by symmetric random…
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…
Reconstituted filamentous actin networks with myosin motor proteins form active gels, in which motor proteins generate forces that drive the network far from equilibrium. This motor activity can also strongly affect the network elasticity;…
Microtubules and motor proteins self organize into biologically important assemblies including the mitotic spindle and the centrosomal microtubule array. Outside of cells, microtubule-motor mixtures can form novel active liquid-crystalline…
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…
Motor enzymes catalyze chemical reactions, like the hydrolysis of ATP, and in the process they also perform work. Recent studies indicate that motor enzymes perform work with specific intermediate steps in their catalyzed reactions,…
The flow of motor proteins on a filamental track is modelled within the the framework of lattice driven diffusive systems. Motors, considered as hopping particles, perform a highly biased asymmetric exclusion process when bound to the…
Recent experiments reveal both passive subdiffusion of various nanoparticles and anomalous active transport of such particles by molecular motors in the molecularly crowded environment of living biological cells. Passive and active…
Active gels are a class of biologically-relevant material containing embedded agents that spontaneously generate forces acting on a sparse filament network. In vitro experiments of protein filaments and molecular motors have revealed a…
The origins of the large differences observed to the rates with which the diverse particles are conveyed along axonal microtubules are still a matter of debate in the literature. There is evidence that certain neurodegenerative diseases may…
Protein-peptide interactions play essential roles in many cellular processes and their structural characterization is the major focus of current experimental and theoretical research. Two decades ago, it was proposed to employ the steered…
We consider the dynamics of a rigid filament in a motor protein assay under external loading. The motor proteins are modeled as active harmonic linkers with tail ends immobilized on a substrate. Their heads attach to the filament…