Nonthermal fluctuations accelerate biomolecular motors

Intracellular transport is essential for maintaining cellular function. This process is driven by different mechanisms in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. In small prokaryotic cells, diffusion is the primary means of transport, while larger eukaryotic cells also rely on active transport by molecular motors such as kinesin and dynein. Recently, it has become evident that, in addition to diffusion based on thermal fluctuations (Brownian motion), which was conventionally considered a diffusion mechanism within living cells, nonthermal fluctuations generated by metabolic activities play a crucial role in intracellular diffusion. Similarly, while molecular motors have been proposed to exploit thermal fluctuations in the environment following the direct observation and manipulation of single molecules, they have also been reported to utilize nonthermal fluctuations in recent years. This review begins with a brief overview of the historical knowledge of diffusive intracellular transport, which has been extended from the thermal fluctuations to the nonthermal fluctuations generated by metabolic activity. It then introduces recent findings on how nonthermal fluctuations accelerate the motion of molecular motors and discusses future perspectives on the general effects of these fluctuations on molecules in living cells.