Stochastic modeling of cargo transport by teams of molecular motors

TL;DR

This paper introduces a stochastic model for cargo transport by molecular motor teams, analyzing the effects of different update schemes and providing insights into bidirectional cargo movement along microtubules.

Contribution

It presents a new continuous-time model considering individual motor positions and examines the impact of discrete update schemes on cargo dynamics.

Findings

Model captures bidirectional cargo motion with persistent directionality

Discrete time schemes influence the system's dynamic behavior

Provides a framework for analyzing motor-cargo interactions

Abstract

Many different types of cellular cargos are transported bidirectionally along microtubules by teams of molecular motors. The motion of this cargo-motors system has been experimentally characterized in vivo as processive with rather persistent directionality. Different theoretical approaches have been suggested in order to explore the origin of this kind of motion. An effective theoretical approach, introduced by M\"uller et al., describes the cargo dynamics as a tug-of-war between different kinds of motors. An alternative approach has been suggested recently by Kunwar et al., who considered the coupling between motor and cargo in more detail. Based on this framework we introduce a model considering single motor positions which we propagate in continuous time. Furthermore, we analyze the possible influence of the discrete time update schemes used in previous publications on the system's dynamic.