Jamming of molecular motors as a tool for transport cargos along microtubules

TL;DR

This paper extends a cargo transport model by incorporating motor jamming and hopping, revealing how bidirectional movement and efficiency are influenced by motor interactions and energy considerations.

Contribution

The study introduces an extended hopping model that accounts for cargo exchange and motor jamming, providing new insights into bidirectional transport mechanisms.

Findings

Cargo can move bidirectionally with a single motor polarity.

A balance between hopping and complex movement controls transport efficiency.

The model offers energy advantages over previous models.

Abstract

The hopping model for cargo transport by molecular motors introduced in Refs. goldman1, goldman2, is extended here in order to incorporate the movement of cargo-motor complexes. In this context, hopping process expresses the possibility for cargo to be exchanged between neighbor motors at a microtubule where the transport takes place. Jamming of motors is essential for cargos to execute long-range movement in this way. Results from computer simulations performed using the extended model indicate that cargo may execute bidirectional movement in the presence of motors of a single polarity, confirming previous analytical results. Moreover, these results suggest the existence of a balance between cargo hopping and the movement of the complex that may control the efficiency of cargo transfer and cargo delivering. Considerations about the energy involved in the transport process show that the model presented here offers a considerable advantage over other models in the literature for which cargo movement is restricted to the movement of cargo-motor complexes.