Title: Random Walks of some Biomolecular Motors
Speaker: Charles Peskin, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences New York University
Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2004, 1:00 pm
Location: Hill Center, Room 260, Rutgers University, Busch Campus, Piscataway, NJ
Abstract:
Biomolecular motors operate in a regime in which Brownian motion is important. They are also influenced by the inherent randomness of the chemical reactions that drive them. Because biomolecular motors typically move along filament-like biopolymers, or involve the assembly or disassemby of such biopolymers, their motions can generally be described as one-dimensional random walks. The statisitics of these walks provide information about the motor mechanism, and may also influence biological function in important ways. Examples to be considered are (1) the role of dynamic instability of microtubules in chromosome capture, (2) a look-ahead model for RNA polymerase, and (3) the role of molecular elasticity in allowing small motors to pull large loads at reasonable speeds.
Seminar sponsored by DIMACS/BIOMAPS Seminar Series on Quantitative Biology and Epidemiology.