ﻻ يوجد ملخص باللغة العربية
Respiration in bacteria involves a sequence of energetically-coupled electron and proton transfers creating an electrochemical gradient of protons (a proton-motive force) across the inner bacterial membrane. With a simple kinetic model we analyze a redox loop mechanism of proton-motive force generation mediated by a molecular shuttle diffusing inside the membrane. This model, which includes six electron-binding and two proton-binding sites, reflects the main features of nitrate respiration in E. coli bacteria. We describe the time evolution of the proton translocation process. We find that the electron-proton electrostatic coupling on the shuttle plays a significant role in the process of energy conversion between electron and proton components. We determine the conditions where the redox loop mechanism is able to translocate protons against the transmembrane voltage gradient above 200 mV with a thermodynamic efficiency of about 37%, in the physiologically important range of temperatures from 250 to 350 K.
Membrane protein transporters alternate their substrate-binding sites between the extracellular and cytosolic side of the membrane according to the alternating access mechanism. Inspired by this intriguing mechanism devised by nature, we study partic
In bacteria, regulatory proteins search for a specific DNA binding target via facilitated diffusion: a series of rounds of 3D diffusion in the cytoplasm, and 1D linear diffusion along the DNA contour. Using large scale Brownian dynamics simulations w
A biomimetic model of cell-cell communication was developed to probe the passive molecular transport across ion channels inserted in synthetic lipid bilayers formed between contacting droplets arranged in a linear array. Diffusion of a fluorescent pr
To theoretically understand force generation properties of actin filaments, many models consider growing filaments pushing against a movable obstacle or barrier. In order to grow, the filaments need space and hence it is necessary to move the barrier
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 expected beh