2008/11/10 by Wolfgang R. Bauer, Walter Nadler · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #ATP Synthase and ATPases Research #Cardiomyopathy and Myosin Studies #Microtubule and mitosis dynamics #cond-mat.soft #physics.bio-ph #physics.chem-ph #q-bio.QM
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.3026736
22 pages, 11 figures, pdflatex, JCP in press
arxiv created 2008/11/10 · openalex publication_date 2008/12/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Brownian rotors play an important role in biological systems and in future nanotechnological applications. However the mechanisms determining their dynamics, efficiency, and performance remain to be characterized. Here the F0 portion of the F-ATP synthase is considered as a paradigm of the Brownian rotor. In a generic analytical model we analyze the stochastic rotation of F0-like motors as a function of the driving free energy difference and of the free energy profile the rotor is subjected to. The latter is composed of the rotor interaction with its surroundings, of the free energy of chemical transitions, and of the workload. The dynamics and mechanical efficiency of the rotor depend on the magnitude of its stochastic motion driven by the free energy difference and its rectification on the reaction-diffusion path. We analyze which free energy profiles provide maximum flow and how their arrangement on the underlying reaction-diffusion path affects rectification and--by this--the efficiency.