The Physics of Molecular Machines (Yet Another Inadequate Placeholder)

Last update: 27 Jul 2026 23:14
First version: 27 July 2026

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... especially in a hot, wet environment, like the inside of a living cell.

In other words: think of a protein, or ribosome, or other macromolecule as a machine. What are the mechanics? What are the thermodynamics? What can we say about its operating properties and efficiency? What lessons might any of this give us for designing molecular-scale machinery?

I have nothing to contribute to this.

See also:
• Molecular Biology
• Biotechnology
• Non-equilibrium Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics
• Nanotechnology
• Physical Principles and Biology

Recommended:
• Timothy Elston, Hongyun Wang and George Oster , "Energy transduction in ATP synthase", Nature 391 (1998): 510--513 [Standing in for a big pile of papers by Oster et al. I read in 1998 to write about three paragraphs of my own...]

To read:
• Aidan I. Brown, David A. Sivak, "Theory of nonequilibrium free energy transduction by molecular machines", arxiv:1909.09180
• Annwesha Dutta, Gunter M Schütz, Debashish Chowdhury, "Stochastic thermodynamics and modes of operation of a ribosome: a network theoretic perspective", Physical Review E 101 (2020): 032402, arxiv:1906.08154
• Ao Ma and Huiyu Li, "Reaction Coordinates Are Optimal Channels of Energy Flow", Annual Review of Physical Chemistry 76 (2025): 153--179
• Muhammad H. Zaman (ed.), Statistical Mechanics of Cellular Systems and Processes
• Giovanni Zocchi, Molecular Machines: A Materials Science Approach