Molecular Motors: Power Strokes Outperform Brownian Ratchets

Molecular motors convert chemical energy (typically from ATP hydrolysis) to directed motion and mechanical work. Their actions are often described in terms of "Power Stroke" (PS) and "Brownian Ratchet" (BR) mechanisms. Here, we use a transition-state model and stochastic thermodynamics to describe a range of mechanisms ranging from PS to BR. We incorporate this model into Hill's diagrammatic method to develop a comprehensive model of motor processivity that is simple but sufficiently general to capture the full range of behavior observed for molecular motors. We demonstrate that, under all conditions, PS motors are faster, more powerful, and more efficient at constant velocity than BR motors. We show that these differences are very large for simple motors but become inconsequential for complex motors with additional kinetic barrier steps.