Entropy production for mechanically or chemically driven biomolecules

Abstract

Entropy production along a single stochastic trajectory of a biomolecule is discussed for two different sources of non-equilibrium. For a molecule manipulated mechanically by an AFM or an optical tweezer, entropy production (or annihilation) occurs in the molecular conformation proper or in the surrounding medium. Within a Langevin dynamics, a unique identification of these two contributions is possible. The total entropy change obeys an integral fluctuation theorem and a class of further exact relations, which we prove for arbitrarily coupled slow degrees of freedom including hydrodynamic interactions. These theoretical results can therefore also be applied to driven colloidal systems. For transitions between different internal conformations of a biomolecule involving unbalanced chemical reactions, we provide a thermodynamically consistent formulation and identify again the two sources of entropy production, which obey similar exact relations. We clarify the particular role degenerate states have in such a description.

References in corpus (5)

• An Extension of the Fluctuation Theorem
• Stationary and Transient Work-Fluctuation Theorems for a Dragged Brownian Particle
• Distribution of work in isothermal non-equilibrium processes
• Work distribution and path integrals in general mean-field systems
• Work probability distribution in single molecule experiments

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Efficiency at maximum power: An analytically solvable model for stochastic heat engines
• Fluctuation theorems for stochastic dynamics
• Efficiency of molecular motors at maximum power
• Fluctuation theorem and large deviation function for a solvable model of a molecular motor
• Total entropy production fluctuation theorems in a nonequilibrium time-periodic steady state