Overdamped thermal ratchets in one and more dimensions. Kinesin transport and protein folding

Ernesto Gonzalez-Candela; Victor Romero-Rochin

doi:10.1016/j.physa.2006.08.060

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Overdamped thermal ratchets in one and more dimensions. Kinesin transport and protein folding

Ernesto Gonzalez-Candela·Victor Romero-Rochin

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Abstract

The overdamped thermal ratchet driven by an external (Orstein-Uhlenbeck) noise is revisited. The ratchet we consider is unbounded in space and not necessarily periodic . We briefly discuss the conditions under which current is obtained by analyzing the corresponding Fokker-Planck equation and its lack of stationary states. Next, two examples in more than one dimension and related to biological systems are presented. First, a two-dimensional model of a ``kinesin protein'' on a ``microtubule'' is analyzed and, second, we suggest that a ratchet mechanism may be behind the folding of proteins; the latter is elaborated with a multidimensional ratchet model.

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Ernesto Gonzalez-Candela, Victor Romero-Rochin. 2006-05-26. Overdamped thermal ratchets in one and more dimensions. Kinesin transport and protein folding. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2006.08.060

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