Motor shot noise explains active fluctuations in a single cilium

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that motor shot noise can account for the observed active fluctuations in cilia movement, linking microscopic motor noise to collective ciliary dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical model showing how motor shot noise explains cilia beat fluctuations and synchronization defects.

Findings

Motor shot noise explains fluctuations in cilia beat.

Fluctuations in bound motor numbers affect oscillation quality.

The model links microscopic motor noise to mesoscopic ciliary behavior.

Abstract

Mesoscopic fluctuations reveal stochastic dynamics of molecules in both inanimate and living matter. We investigate how small-number fluctuations shape the collective dynamics of molecular motors using motile cilia as model system. We theoretically show that fluctuations in the number of bound motors are sufficient to explain experimentally observed fluctuations in the cilia beat, including a quality factor $Q$ that measures oscillation precision and phase defects of intra-cilium synchronization. Our findings constrain theories of motor control and establish a link between microscopic motor noise and mesoscopic non-equilibrium dynamics.