In biological cells, molecular motors transport various types of cargo particles such as vesicles,
organelles, and filaments. This cargo transport is performed by small teams consisting of several motor molecules.
If all motors belong to the same
molecular species, their cooperative action leads to uni-directional transport
with a strongly increased run length and a
characteristic force dependence of the velocity distributions
[1]
[2].
The run length may also be enhanced by crosslinking the cargo
to the filament via additional molecules that bind to and diffuse along the
filament
[3].
In general, the motors interfere by mutual strain forces that act to pull the motors from
the filament or stall their preferred movement
[4].
If two antagonistic species of motors pull on the cargo in opposite directions, they perform a stochastic tug-of-war which induces several distinct patterns of bi-directional transport [5]. Two important control parameters for such a tug-of-war are the overall motor numbers for the two motor species [6]. The latter number can change by motors that hop on to and off from the cargo as observed in kinesin- and dynein-based transport of endosomes [7]. |
Molecular motors: cooperative phenomena of multiple motors.
In "Multiscale Modeling in Biomechanics and Mechanobiology'',
ed. by S. De et al
(Springer, London, 2015) p. 27-61.
Distinct transport regimes for two elastically coupled molecular motors.
Distinct transport regimes ... - Supporting Information.
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Co-operative transport of molecular motors.
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Transient binding of dynein controls bidirectional long-range
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Bidirectional transport by molecular motors:
Enhanced processivity and response to external forces.
Bidirectional transport by molecular motors ... - Supporting material
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Cooperative behavior of molecular motors: Cargo transport
and traffic phenomena.
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Motility states of molecular motors engaged in a stochastic
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Tug-of-war as a cooperative mechanism for
bidirectional cargo transport by molecular motors.
Tug-of-war as a cooperative mechanism ... - Supporting Information.
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Transport of beads by several kinesin motors.
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Cooperative transport by small teams of molecular motors.
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Cooperative cargo transport by several molecular motors.
Cooperative cargo transport ... - Supporting Information.
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