Transport of cargo by interacting molecular motors

SEBASTIÁN BOUZAT; FERNANDO FALO

Sitges. Barcelona. España

Conferencia; XXII Sitges Conference on Statistical Mechanics: Energy Conversion: From Nanomachines to Renewable Sources; 2010

We study theoretically the effect of interactions between molecular motors on the dynamics of a cargo pulled by multiple motors. We consider a realistic Monte Carlo model for the movement of individual motors, that considers the details of their coupling with the cargo and their detachment and attachment rates. It is based on previous models found in the literature [1,2], with the additional ingredients of interaction between motors and allowance of back motion. We find that motors interactions lead to a huge change in the velocity-force relation for the cargo. In particular, they produce a considerable decreasing of the stall force. Moreover, we show that the number of motors that effectively pull the cargo depends on the characteristics of the coupling spring that link them to the cargo. We compare the results to those of models with non detaching and non interacting motors. [1] A. Kunwar, M. Vershinin, J. Xu, and S.P. Gross,.Current Biology 18 (2008) 1173. [2] A. Kunwar and A. Mogilner, Phys. Biol. 7 (2010) 016012.