Regensburg 2013 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 20: Statistical Physics in Biological Systems II (joint with DY)

BP 20.8: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 13. März 2013, 17:00–17:15, H43

Elastic coupling effects in cooperative transport by molecular motors — •Florian Berger, Corina Keller, Stefan Klumpp, and Reinhard Lipowsky — Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Theory & Biosystems, 14424 Potsdam, Germany

Intracellular transport of cargos is achieved by the cooperative action of molecular motors, which pull the cargo along cytoskeletal filaments. To study this mechanism systematically in vitro, engineered constructs coupling a defined number of molecular motors have recently been introduced. These motors are elastically coupled via their common cargo, which may influence the motors' velocity and/or enhances their unbinding from the filament. Starting from the single molecule properties, we introduce a theoretical framework for cooperative transport which is consistent with recent experiments and provides novel testable predictions about the behavior of elastically coupled kinesin, dynein and myosin motors. Such an approach relates the single motor properties directly to the cooperative dynamics. As an example, we show that the overall cargo run length can either increase or decrease as a function of the single motor velocity depending on the single motor unbinding mechanism.