title: The interplay between cooperativity and diversity in model threshold ensembles.
abstract: The interplay between cooperativity and diversity is crucial for biological ensembles because single molecule experiments show a significant degree of heterogeneity and also for artificial nanostructures because of the high individual variability characteristic of nanoscale units. We study the cross-effects between cooperativity and diversity in model threshold ensembles composed of individually different units that show a cooperative behaviour. The units are modelled as statistical distributions of parameters (the individual threshold potentials here) characterized by central and width distribution values. The simulations show that the interplay between cooperativity and diversity results in ensemble-averaged responses of interest for the understanding of electrical transduction in cell membranes, the experimental characterization of heterogeneous groups of biomolecules and the development of biologically inspired engineering designs with individually different building blocks.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Termodinàmica, Universitat de València, Burjassot 46100, Spain javier.cervera@uv.es.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cervera
authors.affiliation: Departament de Termodinàmica, Universitat de València, Burjassot 46100, Spain.
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Manzanares
authors.affiliation: Departament de Termodinàmica, Universitat de València, Burjassot 46100, Spain smafe@uv.es.
authors.forename: Salvador
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mafe
mesh_terms: D057005:Bioengineering / Q000379:methods*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D049490:Systems Biology / Q000379:methods*
keywords: biological diversity; cooperativity phenomena; threshold response