Speaker: Dr. Yan Chai (柴彦), Beijing Computational Science Research Center

Abstract: Bacterial flagellar motor switches stochastically between counterclockwise (CCW) and clockwise (CW) directions. The switching of flagellar motor is regulated by the chemotaxis signaling protein CheY-P. We have studied the free energy landscape and kinetic properties of the motor switching in the conformational spread model by simulation and analytical calculation. We found that the distributions of dwell time and transition time both have a narrow peak due to the finite time for the system to pass the intermediate states when the motor switches. A broad peak of the dwell time distribution observed in experiments can be explained by the elasticity of the flagellum which is modeled as a harmonic spring.

Date&Time: May 9, 2014 (Friday), 14:30–15:30
Location: 606 Conference Room