Dresden 2009 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help
BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 15: Motor Proteins
BP 15.4: Talk
Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 15:15–15:30, ZEU 260
Stochastic simulations of cargo transport by several processive motors — •Christian Korn1, Stefan Klumpp2, Reinhard Lipowsky3, and Ulrich S. Schwarz1,4 — 1University of Heidelberg, Bioquant 0013, Im Neuenheimer Feld 267, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany — 2Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0374, USA — 3Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Science Park Golm, 14424 Potsdam, Germany — 4University of Karlsruhe, Theoretical Biophysics Group, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
We use stochastic computer simulations to study the transport of a spherical cargo particle along a microtubule-like track by several kinesin-like processive motors. Our adhesive motor dynamics algorithm combines the numerical integration of a Langevin equation for the motion of a sphere with rules for the reaction kinetics of molecular motors. The Langevin part includes diffusive motion, the action of the pulling motors, and hydrodynamic interactions with the planar substrate. The kinetic rules for the motor reactions model binding and unbinding to the filament as well as active motor steps. As a first validation of our model, we show that the simulated mean transport length increases exponentially with the number of bound motors, in good agreement with earlier results. For a fixed number of motors attached to the cargo, the distribution of the number of motors in binding range to the motor track is found to be Poissonian in most cases. We also find that load is equally shared due to a corresponding spatial arrangement of the motors only for unusually long-lived bonds.