Energy Transfer in molecular devices

TL;DR

This paper explores nonlinear energy localization and transfer mechanisms in protein machines, revealing highly efficient energy transport that minimizes dissipation and depends on initial energy input.

Contribution

It demonstrates that nonlinear phenomena govern energy transfer in protein devices and introduces models showing efficient, localized energy transport with minimal dissipation.

Findings

Nonlinear effects drive energy transfer in protein machines.

Optimal energy transfer occurs within a specific energy range.

Energy localization minimizes dissipation in the presence of solvent.

Abstract

Protein machines often exhibit long range interplay between different sites in order to achieve their biological tasks. We investigate and characterize the non--linear energy localization and the basic mechanisms of energy transfer in protein devices. By studying two different model protein machines, with different biological functions, we show that genuinely non--linear phenomena are responsible for energy transport between the different machine sites involved in the biological functions. The energy transfer turns out to be extremely efficient from an energetic point of view: by changing the energy initially provided to the model device, we identify a well defined range of energies where the time for the energy transport to occur is minimal and the amount of transferred energy is maximum. Furthermore, by introducing an implicit solvent, we show that the energy is localized on the internal residues of the protein structure, thus minimizing the dissipation.