Using free energy to improve molecular machine performance

Synopsis

Biomolecular machines perform many roles inside cells, including cargo transport and energy conversion. These machines operate stochastically and far from equilibrium, consuming free energy to drive directional progress, typically by converting high free-energy chemical reactants into low free-energy products. I will discuss related projects examining the performance limits of free energy use for molecular machines. I will address the free-energy cost of directional progress, describing how to increase time-reversal symmetry breaking for a model system representing microscopic energy transmission. I will explain how to allocate free-energy to maximize throughput of a molecular machine with both slow and fast stages. Finally, I will discuss how the precision of molecular machine progress is affected by pulling cargo.