Molecular Motors: Traffic of Motors, Cargo Particles, and Filaments

    In the living cell, filaments are typically overcrowded with molecular motors and cargo particles. Because of the mutual exclusion (or hardcore repulsion) between these particles, this overcrowding leads to a variety of cooperative phenomena and self-organized processes: build-up of traffic jams [1] [2]; active pattern formation [3] [4] leading to steady states with spatially nonuniform density and flux patterns; and traffic phase transitions [3] [5] [6] between different steady states far from equilibrium. Nonequilibrium phase transitions also occur in filament gliding assays in which the motors are immobilized on a substrate surface and pull many filaments across this surface [7].

  • Y. Chai, S. Klumpp, M. J. I. Müller, and R. Lipowsky
    Traffic by multiple species of molecular motors.
    Phys. Rev. E 80, 041928 (2009) PDF (176 KB)

  • Y. Chai, R. Lipowsky, and S. Klumpp
    Transport by molecular motors in the presence of static defects.
    J. Stat. Phys. 135, 241-260 (2009). PDF (276 KB)

  • R. Lipowsky, J. Beeg, R. Dimova, S. Liepelt, S. Klumpp, M. J. I. Müller, and A. Valleriani
    Active bio-systems: From single motor molecules to cooperative cargo transport.
    Biophys. Rev. Lett. 4, 77-137 (2009). PDF (856 KB)

  • S. Klumpp, Y. Chai, and R. Lipowsky
    Effects of the chemomechanical stepping cycle on the traffic of molecular motors.
    Phys. Rev. E 78, 041909 (2008). PDF (120 KB)

  • J. Kierfeld, K. Frentzel, P. Kraikivski, and R. Lipowsky
    Active dynamics of filaments in motility assays.
    Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 157, 123-133 (2008). PDF (672 KB)

  • J. Kierfeld, P. Kraikivski and R. Lipowsky
    Filament ordering and clustering by molecular motors in motility assays.
    Biophys. Rev. Lett. 1, 363 - 374 (2006). PDF (480 KB)

  • R. Lipowsky, Y. Chai, S. Klumpp, S. Liepelt and M.J.I. Müller
    Molecular motor traffic: From biological nanomachines to macroscopic transport.
    Physica A 372, 34 - 51 (2006). PDF (444 KB)

  • P. Kraikivski, R. Lipowsky and J. Kierfeld
    Enhanced ordering of interacting filaments by molecular motors.
    Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 , 258103 (2006). PDF (464 KB)
    Appendices: PDF (176 KB)

  • R. Lipowsky
    The Physics of Bio-Systems: From Molecules to Networks
    Biophys. Rev. Lett. 1, 223 - 230 (2006) PDF (1 MB)

  • M.J.I. Müller, S. Klumpp and R. Lipowsky
    Molecular motor traffic in a half-open tube.
    J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 17, S3839 - S3850 (2005). PDF (296 KB)

  • S. Klumpp, T.M. Nieuwenhuizen and R. Lipowsky
    Movements of molecular motors: Ratchets, random walks and traffic phenomena.
    Physica E 29, 380 - 389 (2005). PDF (248 KB)

  • R. Lipowsky and S. Klumpp
    'Life is Motion': Multiscale motility of molecular motors.
    Physica A 352, 53-112, (2005). PDF (868 KB)

  • S. Klumpp, T.M. Nieuwenhuizen and R. Lipowsky
    Self-organized density patterns of molecular motors in arrays of cytosceletal filaments
    Biophys. J. 88, 3118-3132, (2005). PDF (236 KB)

  • T.M. Nieuwenhuizen, S. Klumpp and R. Lipowsky
    Walks of molecular motors interacting with immobilized filaments
    Physica A 350, 122 - 130 (2005). PDF (216 KB)

  • S. Klumpp and R. Lipowsky
    Asymmetric simple exclusion processes with diffusive bottlenecks.
    Phys. Rev. E 70, 066104 (2004). PDF (176 KB)

  • S. Klumpp and R. Lipowsky
    Phase transitions in systems with two species of molecular motors.
    Europhys. Lett. 66, 90-96 (2004) . PDF (204 KB)

  • T.M. Nieuwenhuizen, S. Klumpp and R. Lipowsky
    Random walks of molecular motors arising from diffusional encounters with immobilized filaments.
    Phys. Rev. E 69, 061911 (2004). PDF (336 KB)

  • S. Klumpp and R. Lipowsky
    Traffic of molecular motors through tube-like compartments.
    J. Stat. Phys. 113, 233-268 (2003). PDF (520 KB)

  • T. M. Nieuwenhuizen, S. Klumpp, and R. Lipowsky
    Walks of molecular motors in two and three dimensions.
    Europhys. Lett., 58, 468-474 (2002). PDF (168 KB)

  • R. Lipowsky.
    Movements of molecular motors.
    In "Biological Physics 2000" ed. by V. Sa-yakanit, L. Matsson, and H. Frauenfelder
    (World Scientific, Singapore 2001) p. 41-55. PDF (208 KB)

  • R. Lipowsky.
    Biomimetic materials and transport systems.
    In "European White Book on Fundamental Research in Materials Science"
    ed. by Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung (2001) p. 78-82 . PDF (80 KB)

  • R. Lipowsky, S. Klumpp, and T.M. Nieuwenhuizen
    Random Walks of Cytoskeletal Motors in Open and Closed Compartments.
    Phys. Rev. Lett. 87 , 108101 (2001). PDF (152 KB)