Experimental evidence of symmetry breaking of transition-path times

J. Gladrow, M. Ribezzi-Crivellari, F. Ritort and U. F. Keyser ()
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J. Gladrow: Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge
M. Ribezzi-Crivellari: Laboratoire de Biochimie, UMR CBI 8231, ESPCI Paris, PSL Research University, 10 rue Vauquelin
F. Ritort: University of Barcelona, C/Marti i Franques s/n
U. F. Keyser: Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract While thermal rates of state transitions in classical systems have been studied for almost a century, associated transition-path times have only recently received attention. Uphill and downhill transition paths between states at different free energies should be statistically indistinguishable. Here, we systematically investigate transition-path-time symmetry and report evidence of its breakdown on the molecular- and meso-scale out of equilibrium. In automated Brownian dynamics experiments, we establish first-passage-time symmetries of colloids driven by femtoNewton forces in holographically-created optical landscapes confined within microchannels. Conversely, we show that transitions which couple in a path-dependent manner to fluctuating forces exhibit asymmetry. We reproduce this asymmetry in folding transitions of DNA-hairpins driven out of equilibrium and suggest a topological mechanism of symmetry breakdown. Our results are relevant to measurements that capture a single coordinate in a multidimensional free energy landscape, as encountered in electrophysiology and single-molecule fluorescence experiments.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07873-9

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