Cooperative transport in nanochannels

Abstract

Channel transport of different species of particles is viewed usually only in terms of competition and selectivity. In this paper we show that transport of one species may be promoted by the presence of another and that both may even mutually cooperate. We investigate a discretized Markovian model of nanochannel transport via in-channel sites, allowing for the simultaneous transport of several different species of particles; interaction between transported particles is included via the condition of single occupancy on a channel site. By numerically solving the model exactly, particularly an analysis of situations of crowding in the channel is possible and we observe three situations: mutual cooperation, promotion of one species at the cost of the other, and mutual competition. The physical situation has a strong nonequilibrium character as Onsager's relations on coupled flows do not hold.