Common basis for cellular motility

Abstract

Motility is characteristic of life, but a common basis for movement has remained to be identified. Diverse systems in motion shift between two states depending on interactions that turnover at the rate of an applied cycle of force. Although one phase of the force cycle terminates the decay of the most recent state, continuation of the cycle of force regenerates the original decay process in a recursive cycle. By completing a cycle, kinetic energy is transformed into probability of sustaining the most recent state and the system gains a frame of reference for discrete transitions having static rather than time-dependent probability. The probability of completing a recursive cycle is computed with a Markov chain comprised of two equilibrium states and a kinetic intermediate. Given rate constants for the reactions, a random walk reproduces bias and recurrence times of walking motor molecules and bacterial flagellar switching with unrivaled fidelity.