Abstract:
Motivated by the complex processes of cellular transport when different
types of biological molecular motors can move in opposite directions along
protein filaments while also detaching from them, we developed a theoretical
model of the bidirectional motion of driven particles. It utilizes a totally asymmetric
simple exclusion process framework to analyze the dynamics of particles
moving in opposite directions along the lattice of discrete sites while the particles
might also dissociate from the filament in the bulk of the system. Mean-field theoretical
arguments supported by extensive Monte Carlo simulations are presented
in order to understand how the localized particle dissociations affect the bidirectional
dynamics and spontaneous symmetry-breaking phenomena. It is found
that changes in the amplitudes and in the symmetry of dissociation rates lead to
significant modifications in the dynamic properties and in the stationary phase
diagrams. These changes are explained using simple physical arguments. Our
theoretical method clarifies some aspects of microscopic mechanisms of complex
transport phenomena in biological systems.
