The Stochastic Nature Exhibited by Proteins inside the Cell Membrane during Cell-to-Cell Communication

Nick Malope, Ebrahim Momoniat, Rhameez Sheldon Herbst

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The movement of proteins through the cell membrane is essential for cell-to-cell communication, which is a process that allows the body’s immune system to identify any foreign cells, such as cells from another organism and pathogens; this movement is also essential for protein-to-protein interactions and protein-to-membrane interactions which play a significant role in drug discovery. This paper presents the stochastic nature exhibited by proteins during cell-to-cell communication. We study the movement of proteins through the cell membrane under the influence of an external force F and drag force with drag coefficient (Formula presented.). We derive the stochastic diffusion equation, which governs the motion of the proteins; we start by describing the random motion exhibited by the proteins in terms of probability using a one-dimensional lattice model; this occurs when proteins move inside the cell membrane and bind with other proteins inside the cell membrane. We then introduce an external force and a drag coefficient into a Brownian motion description of the movement of proteins when they move outside the cell membrane and bind with proteins from other cells; this phenomenon occurs during cell communication when one cell releases messenger proteins to relay information to other cells. This, in turn, allows us to obtain the stochastic diffusion equation by applying (Formula presented.) ’s Lemma.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1102
JournalBiology
Volume12
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2023

Keywords

  • Brownian motion
  • Itô Lemma
  • cell membrane
  • cell-to-cell communication
  • messenger proteins
  • stochastic diffusion equation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Immunology and Microbiology
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Stochastic Nature Exhibited by Proteins inside the Cell Membrane during Cell-to-Cell Communication'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this