Dresden 2011 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 33: Biological Machines \& Motor Proteins
BP 33.3: Talk
Friday, March 18, 2011, 11:00–11:15, ZEU 250
Cooperative Transport by Two Molecular Motors — •Florian Berger1, Corina Keller1, Melanie J. I. Müller1,2, Stefan Klumpp1, and Reinhard Lipowsky1 — 1Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, 14424 Potsdam, Germany — 2Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Intracellular transport of cargos is achieved by molecular motors, which pull the cargo along cytoskeletal filaments. Due to the thermal environment, these motors unbind from the filament resulting in a finite run length of the cargo. Assuming non-interacting motors the run length increases exponentially with the number of motors attached to the cargo [1]. However, in a recent in vitro experiment two kinesins coupled via a DNA interfere in such a way that they pull each other from the filament [2]. Using a discrete stochastic model based on well established single motor properties together with a spring like coupling, we study the origin of this interference in a motor pair of two identical motor proteins. Additionally, we consider a cargo transported by one active microtubule based motor, kinesin-1, and one diffusive actin based motor, myosin V resulting in an enhanced processivity of the cargo in agreement with a recent in vitro experiment [3].
[1] S. Klumpp, and R. Lipowsky, PNAS 102:17284 (2005)
[2] A. R. Rogers et al., PCCP 11:4882 (2009)
[3] F. Berger, M. J. I. Müller, and R. Lipowsky, EPL 87:28002 (2009)