Statistical mechanics of the Huxley-Simmons model
Abstract
The chemomechanical model of Huxley and Simmons (HS) [A. F. Huxley and R. M. Simmons, Nature 233, 533 (1971)] provides a paradigmatic description of mechanically induced collective conformational changes relevant in a variety of biological contexts, from muscles power-stroke and hair cell gating to integrin binding and hairpin unzipping. We develop a statistical mechanical perspective on the HS model by exploiting a formal analogy with a paramagnetic Ising model. We first study the equilibrium HS model with a finite number of elements and compute explicitly its mechanical and thermal properties. To model kinetics, we derive a master equation and solve it for several loading protocols. The developed formalism is applicable to a broad range of allosteric systems with mean-field interactions.
Reference
@article{caruel-2016,
title = {Statistical Mechanics of the {{Huxley-Simmons}} Model},
author = {Caruel, M. and Truskinovsky, L.},
year = {2016},
journal = {Physical Review E},
volume = {93},
pages = {062407},
issn = {2470-0045, 2470-0053},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevE.93.062407},
}