Cargo transportation by two species of motor protein

TL;DR

This study models cargo transport by two motor protein species with memory effects, analyzing how their step rates and external conditions influence cargo movement, oscillation, and localization in cellular environments.

Contribution

It introduces a minimal memory model for cargo motion with two motor species, revealing new insights into oscillation behavior and cargo localization under external loads and traps.

Findings

Cargo can move long distances in the same direction due to memory.

Oscillation period decreases and amplitude increases with motor step rates.

Cargo localization depends on motor step rates and trap stiffness.

Abstract

The cargo motion in living cells transported by two species of motor protein with different intrinsic directionality is discussed in this study. Similar to single motor movement, cargo steps forward and backward along microtubule stochastically. Recent experiments found that, cargo transportation by two motor species has a memory, it does not change its direction as frequently as expected, which means that its forward and backward step rates depends on its previous motion trajectory. By assuming cargo has only the least memory, i.e. its step direction depends only on the direction of its last step, two cases of cargo motion are detailed analyzed in this study: {\bf (I)} cargo motion under constant external load; and {\bf (II)} cargo motion in one fixed optical trap. Due to the existence of memory, for the first case, cargo can keep moving in the same direction for a long distance. For the second case, the cargo will oscillate in the trap. The oscillation period decreases and the oscillation amplitude increases with the motor forward step rates, but both of them decrease with the trap stiffness. The most likely location of cargo, where the probability of finding the oscillated cargo is maximum, may be the same as or may be different with the trap center, which depends on the step rates of the two motor species. Meanwhile, if motors are robust, i.e. their forward to backward step rate ratios are high, there may be two such most likely locations, located on the two sides of the trap center respectively. The probability of finding cargo in given location, the probability of cargo in forward/backward motion state, and various mean first passage times of cargo to give location or given state are also analyzed.