title: The subdiffusive targeting problem.
abstract: Recent experiments in living cells have observed subdiffusive motion, where the mean squared displacement of a molecule grows sublinearly with time as [x (2)] approximately t(alpha). Motivated by these experiments, we develop a theory for subdiffusion-limited bimolecular enzyme kinetics. As in normal diffusion, the statistics of the reaction times depend on the ratio between the distance to the target and the reaction rate in a scale invariant manner. Contrary to some studies, we find no critical value of alpha and therefore no evidence to suggest that it has been a target of evolutionary optimization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, 3000 Broadway, New York, New York 10025, USA.
authors.forename: Joel D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Eaves
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Reichman
mesh_terms: D001669:Biochemical Phenomena; D001671:Biochemistry; D004058:Diffusion; D004798:Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D007700:Kinetics; D008433:Mathematics; D008956:Models, Chemical
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes