Kinesin and the Crooks fluctuation theorem

ESTEBAN CALZETTA

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICS

IOP PUBLISHING LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2009 vol. 68 p. 601 - 605

0143-0807

Abstract. The thermal efficiency of the kinesin cycle at stalling is presently a matter of some debate,with published predictions ranging from 0 [Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 158102 (2007); Phys. Rev. E 78, 011915(2008)] to 100% [in Molecular Motors, edited by M. Schliwa (Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim (2003),p. 207]. In this note we attemp to clarify the issues involved. We also find an upper bound on the kinesinefficiency by constructing an ideal kinesin cycle to which the real cycle may be compared. The ideal cyclehas a thermal efficiency of less than one, and the real one is less efficient than the ideal one always, incompliance with Carnot’s theorem.