Nanoscale swimmers: Hydrodynamic interactions and propulsion of molecular machines
Nanoscale swimmers: Hydrodynamic interactions and propulsion of molecular machines
Publication Type:
Journal ArticleSource:
European Physical Journal B, Volume 75, Number 3, p.381-387 (2010)URL:
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-77954563196&doi=10.1140%2fepjb%2fe2010-00138-x&partnerID=40&md5=7bb14911df77d0b211228c0953ff0555Keywords:
Coarse grained models, Conformational change, Conformational dynamics, Couplings, Fluid dynamics, Hydrodynamic effect, Hydrodynamic interaction, Hydrodynamic modes, Hydrodynamics, Ligand binding, Linear-response theory, Mobility tensors, Molecular machines, Molecular physics, Nano scale, Non-linear phenomena, Product release, Propulsion, Protein machines, self-propulsion, Simple model, Stall force, Time reversalAbstract:
Molecular machines execute nearly regular cyclic conformational changes as a result of ligand binding and product release. This cyclic conformational dynamics is generally non-reciprocal so that under time reversal a different sequence of machine conformations is visited. Since such changes occur in a solvent, coupling to solvent hydrodynamic modes will generally result in self-propulsion of the molecular machine. These effects are investigated for a class of coarse grained models of protein machines consisting of a set of beads interacting through pair-wise additive potentials. Hydrodynamic effects are incorporated through a configuration-dependent mobility tensor, and expressions for the propulsion linear and angular velocities, as well as the stall force, are obtained. In the limit where conformational changes are small so that linear response theory is applicable, it is shown that propulsion is exponentially small; thus, propulsion is nonlinear phenomenon. The results are illustrated by computations on a simple model molecular machine. © EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2010.
