title: Biased motion and molecular motor properties of bipedal spiders.
abstract: Molecular spiders are synthetic molecular motors featuring multiple legs that each can interact with a substrate through binding and cleavage. Experimental studies suggest the motion of the spider in a matrix is biased toward uncleaved substrates and that spider properties such as processivity can be altered by changing the binding strength of the legs to substrate [R. Pei, S. K. Taylor, D. Stefanovic, S. Rudchenko, T. E. Mitchell, and M. N. Stojanovic, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 128, 12693 (2006)]. We investigate the origin of biased motion and molecular motor properties of bipedal spiders using Monte Carlo simulations. Our simulations combine a realistic chemical kinetic model, hand-over-hand or inchworm modes of stepping, and the use of a one-dimensional track. We find that stronger binding to substrate, cleavage and spider detachment from the track are contributing mechanisms to population bias. We investigate the contributions of stepping mechanism to speed, randomness parameter, processivity, coupling, and efficiency, and comment on how these molecular motor properties can be altered by changing experimentally tunable kinetic parameters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: Laleh
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Samii
authors.forename: Heiner
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Linke
authors.forename: Martin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Zuckermann
authors.forename: Nancy R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Forde
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000378:metabolism*; D021881:DNA, Catalytic / Q000378:metabolism; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D008954:Models, Biological; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009038:Motion; D009068:Movement; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D021881:DNA, Catalytic; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins