Cooperative transport by small teams of molecular motors

Molecular motors power directed transport of cargoes within cells. Even if a single motor is sufficient to transport a cargo, motors often cooperate in small teams. We discuss the cooperative cargo transport by several motors theoretically and explore some of its properties. In particular we emphasize how motor teams can drag cargoes through a viscous environment.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, uses ws-brl.cls, presented at Bio-Systems conference, Berlin, June 200

Tug-of-war as a cooperative mechanism for bidirectional cargo transport by molecular motors

Intracellular transport is based on molecular motors that pull cargos along cytoskeletal filaments. One motor species always moves in one direction, e.g. conventional kinesin moves to the microtubule plus end, while cytoplasmic dynein moves to the microtubule minus end. However, many cellular cargos are observed to move bidirectionally, involving both plus-end and minus-end directed motors. The presumably simplest mechanism for such bidirectional transport is provided by a tug-of-war between the two motor species. This mechanism is studied theoretically using the load-dependent transport properties of individual motors as measured in single-molecule experiments. In contrast to previous expectations, such a tug-of-war is found to be highly cooperative and to exhibit seven different motility regimes depending on the precise values of the single motor parameters. The sensitivity of the transport process to small parameter changes can be used by the cell to regulate its cargo traffic.Comment: 17 pages, latex, 11 figures, 4 tables, includes Supporting Informatio

Two-Photon Excitation of Low-Lying Electronic Quadrupole States in Atomic Clusters

A simple scheme of population and detection of low-lying electronic quadrupole modes in free small deformed metal clusters is proposed. The scheme is analyzed in terms of the TDLDA (time-dependent local density approximation) calculations. As test case, the deformed cluster $Na^+_{11}$ is considered. Long-living quadrupole oscillations are generated via resonant two-photon (two-dipole) excitation and then detected through the appearance of satellites in the photoelectron spectra generated by a probe pulse. Femtosecond pump and probe pulses with intensities $I = 2\cdot 10^{10} - 2\cdot 10^{11} W/cm^2$ and pulse duration $T = 200 - 500$ fs are found to be optimal. The modes of interest are dominated by a single electron-hole pair and so their energies, being combined with the photoelectron data for hole states, allow to gather new information about mean-field spectra of valence electrons in the HOMO-LUMO region. Besides, the scheme allows to estimate the lifetime of electron-hole pairs and hence the relaxation time of electronic energy into ionic heat.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

The FFLO state in the one-dimensional attractive Hubbard model and its fingerprint in the spatial noise correlations

We explore the pairing properties of the one-dimensional attractive Hubbard model in the presence of finite spin polarization. The correlation exponents for the most important fluctuations are determined as a function of the density and the polarization. We find that in a system with spin population imbalance, Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO)-type pairing at wavevector Q=|k_{F,\uparrow}-k_{F,\downarrow}| is always dominant and there is no Chandrasekhar-Clogston limit. We then investigate the case of weakly coupled 1D systems and determine the region of stability of the 1D FFLO phase. This picture is corroborated by density-matrix-renormalization-group (DMRG) simulations of the spatial noise correlations in uniform and trapped systems, unambiguously revealing the presence of fermion pairs with nonzero momentum Q. This opens up an interesting possibility for experimental studies of FFLO states.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

New effective interactions in RMF theory with non-linear terms and density-dependent meson-nucleon coupling

New parameter sets for the Lagrangian density in the relativistic mean field (RMF) theory, PK1 with nonlinear sigma- and omega-meson self-coupling, PK1R with nonlinear sigma-, omega- and rho-meson self-coupling and PKDD with the density-dependent meson-nucleon coupling, are proposed. They are able to provide an excellent description not only for the properties of nuclear matter but also for the nuclei in and far from the valley of beta-stability. For the first time in the parametrization of the RMF Lagrangian density, the center-of-mass correction is treated by a microscopic way, which is essential to unify the description of nuclei from light to heavy regions with one effective interaction.Comment: 22 pages, 16 EPS figures, RevTeX

Two-dimensional solitons on the surface of magnetic fluids

We report an observation of a stable soliton-like structure on the surface of a ferrofluid, generated by a local perturbation in the hysteretic regime of the Rosensweig instability. Unlike other pattern-forming systems with localized 2D structures, magnetic fluids are characterized by energy conservation; hence their mechanism of soliton stabilization is different from the previously discussed gain/loss balance mechanism. The radioscopic measurements of the soliton's surface profile suggest that locking on the underlying periodic structure is instrumental in its stabilization.Comment: accepted for publication by Physical Review Letter