title: Motion reversal of molecular motor assemblies due to weak noise.
abstract: Bidirectional motion is an example of collective behavior of molecular motors. It occurs at finite noise level in a nonequilibrium system. We consider this problem as a first exit problem. We identify the noise strength by doing an expansion of a master equation and apply the Wentzell-Freidlin theory to define an effective nonequilibrium potential and provide analytical estimates of the reversal time. Our results match very well with the results of stochastic simulations.
authors.affiliation: Physicochimie Curie, Institut Curie/CNRS-UMR168/UPMC, Institut Curie, Centre de Recherche, 26 rue d'Ulm 75248 Paris Cedex 05 France.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Guérin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prost
authors.forename: J-F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Joanny
mesh_terms: D008954:Models, Biological; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009068:Movement
chemical_list: D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins