Effect of microtubule-associated protein tau in dynamics of single-headed motor proteins KIF1A

TL;DR

This study presents a stochastic model of kinesin-1 motor proteins interacting with microtubule-associated protein tau, revealing tau's significant regulatory effects on motor binding time and transport efficiency in cells.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel stochastic model that incorporates tau interactions with kinesin-1, providing insights into their regulatory role in intracellular transport.

Findings

Tau significantly affects kinesin binding time.

Tau influences kinesin run length and transport dynamics.

Model aligns with experimental observations.

Abstract

Intracellular transport based on molecular motors and its regulation are crucial to the functioning of cells. Filamentary tracks of the cells are abundantly decorated with non-motile microtubule-associated proteins, such as tau. Motivated by experiments on kinesin-tau interactions [Dixit et al. Science 319, 1086 (2008)] we developed a stochastic model of interacting single-headed motor proteins KIF1A that also takes into account the interactions between motor proteins and tau molecules. Our model reproduce experimental observations and predicts significant effects of tau on bound time and run length which suggest an important role of tau in regulation of kinesin-based transport.