Anomalous fluctuations in sliding motion of cytoskeletal filament driven by molecular motors: Model simulations

TL;DR

This study investigates the anomalous diffusion of cytoskeletal filaments driven by molecular motors through model simulations, revealing that existing models fail to fully explain experimental observations of length-independent diffusion.

Contribution

The paper critically analyzes three existing models, showing their limitations in reproducing experimental anomalous diffusion and suggesting the need for new mechanisms.

Findings

Prost and Duke models do not produce finite long-length diffusion.

Sekimoto-Tawada model shows length-independent diffusion but conflicts with experimental time scales.

Existing models cannot fully explain the observed anomalous fluctuations.

Abstract

It has been found in in vitro experiments that cytoskeletal filaments driven by molecular motors show finite diffusion in sliding motion even in the long filament limit [Y. Imafuku et al., Biophys. J. 70 (1996) 878-886; N. Noda et al., Biophys. 1 (2005) 45-53]. This anomalous fluctuation can be an evidence for cooperativity among the motors in action because fluctuation should be averaged out for a long filament if the action of each motor is independent. In order to understand the nature of the fluctuation in molecular motors, we perform numerical simulations and analyse velocity correlation in three existing models that are known to show some kind of cooperativity and/or large diffusion coefficient, i.e. Sekimoto-Tawada model [K. Sekimoto and K. Tawada, Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 (1995) 180], Prost model [J. Prost et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 72 (1994) 2652], and Duke model [T. Duke, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 96 (1999) 2770]. It is shown that Prost model and Duke model do not give a finite diffusion in the long filament limit in spite of collective action of motors. On the other hand, Sekimoto-Tawada model has been shown to give the diffusion coefficient that is independent of filament length, but it comes from the long time correlation whose time scale is proportional to filament length, and our simulations show that such a long correlation time conflicts with the experimental time scales. We conclude that none of the three models do not represent experimental findings. In order to explain the observed anomalous diffusion, we have to seek for the mechanism that should allow both the amplitude and the time scale of the velocity correlation to be independent of the filament length.