The physics of molecular motors.

Modeling Spatial Distribution of Intracellular Organelles by Molecular Motors

Duty ratio of cooperative molecular motors.

Molecular motors are found throughout the cells of the human body and have many different and important roles. These micromachines move along filament tracks and have the ability to convert chemical energy into mechanical work that powers cellular motility. Different types of motors are characterized by different duty ratios, which is the fraction of time that a motor is attached to its filamen...

Sequence heterogeneity and the dynamics of molecular motors.

The effect of sequence heterogeneity on the dynamics of molecular motors is reviewed and analysed using a set of recently introduced lattice models. First, we review results for the influence of heterogeneous tracks such as a single strand of DNA or RNA on the dynamics of the motors. We stress how the predicted behaviour might be observed experimentally in anomalous drift and diffusion of motor...

Molecular motors one at a time: FIONA to the rescue.

Processive molecular motors act as intracellular transporters of a broad range of cargoes varying from organelles to messenger RNAs. Due to the nanometre range movements and complex dynamics of these motors, highly specialized tools are required to study them, in particular at the single-molecule level. Such tools are what physicists are providing for understanding these biological systems. Flu...

Fluctuation theorem for the flashing ratchet model of molecular motors.

Molecular motors convert chemical energy derived from the hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) into mechanical energy. A well-studied model of a molecular motor is the flashing ratchet model. We show that this model exhibits a fluctuation relation known as the Gallavotti-Cohen symmetry. Our study highlights the fact that the symmetry is present only if the chemical and mechanical degrees ...