title: Exploiting thermal noise for an efficient actomyosin sliding mechanism.
abstract: With reference to the experimental observations by Yanagida and his co-workers concerning actomyosin interaction during muscle contraction processes, we propose a phenomenological model for the sliding of the myosin head on the actin filament, in which the myosin head is viewed as an active Brownian particle in a periodic, elastic-type potential subject to tilting. The sample paths thus obtained are qualitatively alike to those experimentally recorded. Furthermore, our model is proved to be susceptible of a consistent parameters regulation yielding step frequencies, mean step dwell time and dwell time distribution in excellent agreement with the experimental evidence.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Matematica e Applicazioni, Università de Napoli Federico II, Via Cintia, Napoli 80126, Italy. aniello.buonocore@unina.it
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buonocore
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
mesh_terms: D000205:Actomyosin / Q000502:physiology*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D008954:Models, Biological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D010507:Periodicity
chemical_list: D000205:Actomyosin