Fluctuation-Driven Molecular Transport in an Asymmetric Membrane Channel

Abstract

Channel proteins, that selectively conduct molecules across cell membranes, often exhibit an asymmetric structure. By means of a stochastic model, we argue that channel asymmetry in the presence of non-equilibrium fluctuations, fueled by the cell's metabolism as observed recently, can dramatically influence the transport through such channels by a ratchet-like mechanism. For an aquaglyceroporin that conducts water and glycerol we show that a previously determined asymmetric glycerol potential leads to enhanced inward transport of glycerol, but for unfavorably high glycerol concentrations also to enhanced outward transport that protects a cell against poisoning.

REVTeX4, 4 pages, 3 figures; Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett

References in corpus (2)

• Brownian motors: noisy transport far from equilibrium
• Nonequilibrium Fluctuations, Travelling Waves, and Instabilities in Active Membranes

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