ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter we started to analyze theoretical methods proposed for investigating motor proteins functioning in cellular systems. Continuum ratchet potential methods were discussed first. The main idea of this approach is to view dynamics of biological molecular motors as a motion in the effective potentials created by a complex set of chemical and physical interactions in the system. Despite the fact that continuum ratchet models were successful
in explaining many features of motor proteins, the application of this approach is rather limited. As we explained, the main reason for this is that it is difficult to properly calculate potentials for ratchet models. In addition, these potentials still cannot be obtained from experiments with a reasonable degree of reliability. But the quantitative power of continuum ratchet models strongly depends on the functional form of the effective free-energy potentials. All these observations stimulated additional efforts in a search for alternative theoretical ideas for studying biological molecular motors.
