Related papers: The Force Exerted by a Molecular Motor
Pattern formation and the mechanics of a mixture of actin filaments and myosin motors that is confined by a rigid membrane is investigated. By using a coarse-grained molecular dynamics model, we demonstrate that the competition between the…
We present a molecular dynamics and kinetic theory study of granular material, modeled by inelastic hard disks, fluidized by a random driving force. The focus is on collisional averages and short distance correlations in the non-equilibrium…
The static friction between crystalline surfaces separated by a molecularly thin layer of adsorbed molecules is calculated using molecular dynamics simulations. These molecules naturally lead to a finite static friction that is consistent…
We analyze a simple stochastic model to describe motor molecules which cooperate in large groups and present a physical mechanism which can lead to oscillatory motion if the motors are elastically coupled to their environment. Beyond a…
The effect of interactions on dynamics of coupled motor proteins is investigated theoretically. A simple stochastic discrete model, that allows to calculate explicitly the dynamic properties of the system, is developed. It is shown that…
We introduce a general framework to study the processivity of molecular motors moving along a polar filament and discuss the average time spent attached to the filament as a function of a tangentially applied load. Our study of specific…
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,…
A simple flashing ratchet model in two dimensions is proposed to simulate the hand-over-hand motion of two head molecular motors like kinesin. Extensive Langevin simulations of the model are performed. Good qualitative agreement with the…
In Molecular Dynamics (MD), the forces applied to atoms derive from potentials which describe the energy of bonds, valence angles, torsion angles, and Lennard-Jones interactions of which molecules are made. These de finitions are classic;…
Propulsion of otherwise passive objects is achieved by mechanisms of active driving. We concentrate on cases in which the direction of active drive is subject to spontaneous symmetry breaking. In our case, this direction will be maintained,…
We study the behavior of the stationary velocity of a driven particle in an environment of mobile hard-core obstacles. Based on a lattice gas model, we demonstrate analytically that the drift velocity can exhibit a nonmonotonic dependence…
A molecular gas system in three dimensions is numerically studied by the energy conserving molecular dynamics (MD). The autocorrelation functions for the velocity and the force are computed and the friction coefficient is estimated. From…
Mechanochemical coupling was studied for two different types of myosin motors in cells: myosin V, which carries cargo over long distances by as a single molecule; and myosin II, which generates a contracting force in cooperation with other…
In cells, organelles and vesicles are usually transported by cooperation of several motor proteins, including plus-end directed motor kinesin and minus-end directed motor dynein. Many biophysical models have been constructed to understand…
How stochastic, microscopic events generate deterministic, macroscopic properties is a fundamental question in physics. We address this question by developing a quantum master equation model for concentrated radical solutions, where random…
This study presents an analysis of a quantum mechanical formulation of the Carnot like cycle using diatomic molecules, i.e., the Morse oscillator, as the working substance. The generalized model with an arbitrary one dimensional potential…
Molecular motors are single macromolecules that generate forces at the piconewton range and nanometer scale. They convert chemical energy into mechanical work by moving along filamentous structures. In this paper, we study the velocity of…
Intracellular transport of vesicular cargos, organelles, and other macromolecules is an essential process to move large items through a crowded, and inhomogeneous cellular environment. In an effort to dissect the fundamental effects of…
The pervasive phenomenon of friction has been studied at the nanoscale by controlled manipulation of single atoms and molecules, which permitted a precise determination of the static friction force necessary to initiate motion. However,…
We study three different experiments that involve dry friction and periodic driving, and which employ both single and many-particle systems. These experimental set-ups, besides providing a playground for investigation of frictional effects,…