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Authors
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Ziebert, F. ; Kulic, I.M.
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Title
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How influenza's spike motor works
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Date
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28.05.2021
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Number
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59454
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Abstract
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While often believed to be a passive agent that merely exploits its host’s metabolism, the influenza virus has recently been shown to actively move across glycan-coated surfaces. This form of enzymatically driven surface motility is currently not well understood and has been loosely linked to burnt-bridge Brownian ratchet mechanisms. Starting from known properties of influenza`s spike proteins, we develop a physical model that quantitatively describes the observed motility. It predicts a collectively emerging dynamics of spike proteins and surface-bound ligands that combined with the virus’ geometry give rise to a self-organized rolling propulsion. We show that in contrast to a Brownian ratchet, the rotary spike drive is not fluctuation driven but operates optimally as a macroscopic engine in the deterministic regime. The mechanism also applies to relatives of influenza and to man-made analogs like DNA monowheels and should give guidelines for their optimization.
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Publisher
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Physical Review Letters
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Wikidata
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Citation
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Physical Review Letters 126 (2021) Article Number: 218101
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DOI
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https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.126.218101
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Tags
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