Eur. Phys. J. E (2012) 35: 119
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2012-12119-5

Regular Article

Nano-swimmers in biological membranes and propulsion hydrodynamics in two dimensions

¹ Department of Physics, National Central University, 32001, Jhongli, Taiwan
² Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, 11520, Taipei, Taiwan
³ Physics Division, National Center for Theoretical Sciences, 30013, Hsinchu, Taiwan
⁴ Abteilung Physikalische Chemie, Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195, Berlin, Germany

^* e-mail: mikhailov@fhi-berlin.mpg.de

Received: 3 May 2012
Revised: 9 September 2012
Accepted: 10 October 2012
Published online: 23 November 2012

Abstract

Active protein inclusions in biological membranes can represent nano-swimmers and propel themselves in lipid bilayers. A simple model of an active inclusion with three particles (domains) connected by variable elastic links is considered. First, the membrane is modeled as a two-dimensional viscous fluid and propulsion behavior in two dimensions is examined. After that, an example of a microscopic dynamical simulation is presented, where the lipid bilayer structure of the membrane is resolved and the solvent effects are included by multiparticle collision dynamics. Statistical analysis of data reveals ballistic motion of the swimmer, in contrast to the classical diffusion behavior found in the absence of active transitions between the states.