The load sharing of multiple kinesins in crowded environments

Ya-Ting Huang¹, Yonggun Jun^1*

¹Department of Physics, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan

* Presenter:Yonggun Jun, email:yonggun@phy.ncu.edu.tw

The Kinesin motor proteins are essential for intracellular transport, and how fast and far they deliver cargo are important issues. However, little attention has been paid to the cargo velocity despite its significance. Previous studies have shown that cargo slows as medium viscosity increases in vitro, but cargo moves at varying velocities in cells with high viscosity. To better understand this, we conducted in-vitro experiments with crowding agents that mimic the complex environments of cells. Our observations show that the velocity of the cargo changes with the number of motors involved in its transport. We also confirm the change in cargo velocity using a theoretical model of two-state reactions. Our findings suggest that kinesins attached to cargo share the load, allowing them to move faster than a single motor in a crowded environment.

Keywords: Molecular motor, Kinesin, Fluctuation theorem