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All eukaryotic cells including those of our body contain a large variety of molecular machines that convert the chemical energy released from nucleotide hydrolysis into mechanical work. This talk focusses on molecular stepping motors such as kinesin, which use their two motor domains or "heads" to walk along very thin filaments. Our theory for these motors starts from their enzymatic activity during ATP hydrolysis and from the corresponding nucleotide states. This approach provides a general classification scheme for the different motor cycles, each of which can be characterized in terms of its free energy transduction and entropy production arbitrarily far from chemical and/or mechanical equilibrium. The properties of single motors are then used to describe the cooperative behavior of many motors. The latter behavior includes cargo transport by one or two (antagonistic) team of motors. Systems consisting of many motors and cargo particles can undergo traffic phase transitions.

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Prof. Dr. Reinhard Lipowsky, Department of Theory & Bio-Systems, MPI of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam
Hörsaal 3
Contact: not specified