Dynamical model of the kinesin protein motor

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive dynamical model of kinesin motor proteins, incorporating forces, noise, and complex potentials, supporting the hand-over-hand mechanism and aligning well with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed dynamical model that captures kinesin stepping behavior, including off-axis displacements, advancing understanding of molecular motor mechanics.

Findings

Supports the hand-over-hand stepping mechanism

Predicts off-axis displacements consistent with experiments

Aligns well with recent kinesin dynamics data

Abstract

We model and simulate the stepping dynamics of the kinesin motor including electric and mechanical forces, environmental noise, and the complicated potentials produced by tracking and neighboring protofilaments. Our dynamical model supports the hand-over-hand mechanism of the kinesin stepping. Our theoretical predictions and numerical simulations include the off-axis displacements of the kinesin heads while the steps are performed. The results obtained are in a good agreement with recent experiments on the kinesin dynamics.