Design and analysis of synthetic molecular machines based on stochastic resonance


entutu_portf8The activity of a cell in a living organism is supported by “machines” (molecular machines) constructed from many types of proteins.

Among the various types of molecular machines, there are some that are capable of self-powered locomotion through which they are able to transport material, and some that exhibit unidirectional revolution, like a motor, and carry out such functions as synthesizing ATP and maintaining the proper ion differential between the inside and outside of the cell through a kind of pumping mechanism.

It is known that these kinds of molecular machines function with a high efficiency under conditions with large thermal fluctuations, but the principles underlying this functionality are yet unknown.

In a number of fields, including chemistry, there are now attempts to produce such molecular motors synthetically.


entutu_rotor6In Tutu and Hoshino (2011), with such a synthetic molecular motor in mind, we use a mathematical model based on stochastic resonance to investigate a mechanism through which unidirectional rotation is induced by a linearly polarized weak AC field.

Now, looking toward the design of more complex synthetic molecular motors, we aim to construct further mathematical models and hope to carry out their analysis in the near future.

Assistant Professor Hiroki Tutu

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京都大学 情報学研究科 先端数理科学専攻 非線形物理学講座