Physical Review Research· 2026Q1
Motor shot noise explains active fluctuations in a single cilium
- 1citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Fluctuations in the number of bound molecular motors can explain observed variations in ciliary beating and synchronization defects.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Fluctuations in bound motor numbers are theoretically shown to drive ciliary beat variations.
- This motor noise also explains the quality factor ($Q$) of ciliary oscillation precision.
- The model accounts for phase defects observed in intra-cilium synchronization.
- The study connects microscopic motor dynamics to mesoscopic cilia behavior.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
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.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Physical Review Research, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Statistical and Nonlinear PhysicsPhysics and Astronomy