Analysing single-molecule trajectories to reconstruct free-energy landscapes of cyclic motor proteins

Stochastic trajectories measured in single-molecule experiments have provided key insights into the microscopic behaviour of cyclic motor proteins. However, the fundamental free-energy landscapes of motor proteins are currently only able to be determined by computationally intensive numerical methods that do not take advantage of available single-trajectory data. In this paper we present a robust method for analysing single-molecule trajectories of cyclic motor proteins to reconstruct their free-energy landscapes. We use simulated trajectories on model potential landscapes to show the reliable reconstruction of the potentials. We determine the accuracy of the reconstruction method for common precision limitations and show that the method converges logarithmically. These results are then used to determine the experimental precision required to reconstruct a potential with a desired accuracy. The key advantages of the method are that it is simple to implement, is free of numerical difficulties that plague existing methods and is easily generalizable to higher dimensions.