2017/12/18 by Tunrayo Adeleke-Larodo, Pierre Illien, Adeleke-Larodo, Tunrayo +3 · 2 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Molecular spectroscopy and chirality #Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1712.06418
openalex publication_date 2017/12/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We recently introduced a model of an asymmetric dumbbell made of two\nhydrodynamically coupled subunits as a minimal model for a macromolecular\ncomplex, in order to explain the observation of enhanced diffusion of\ncatalytically active enzymes. It was shown that internal fluctuations lead to\nnegative contributions to the overall diffusion coefficient and that the\nfluctuation-induced contributions are controlled by the strength of the\ninteractions between the subunits and their asymmetry. We develop the theory\nfurther by studying the effect of anisotropy of the constituents on the\ndiffusion properties of a modular structure. We derive an analytic form for the\ndiffusion coefficient of an asymmetric, anisotropic dumbbell and show\nsystematically its dependence on the internal and external symmetry. We give\nexpressions for the associated polarisation fields, and comment on their\nconsequences for the alignment mechanism of the dumbbell. The present work\nopens the way to more detailed descriptions of the effect of hydrodynamic\ninteractions on the diffusion and transport properties of biomolecules with\ncomplex structures.\n