Coordination of Kinesin motors pulling on fluid membranes.

ABSTRACT: Intracellular transport relies on the action of motor proteins, which work collectively to either carry small vesicles or pull membranes tubes along cytoskeletal filaments. Although the individual properties of kinesin-1 motors have been extensively studied, little is known on how several motors coordinate their action and spatially organize on the microtubule when pulling on fluid membranes. Here we address these questions by studying, both experimentally and numerically, the growth of membrane tubes pulled by molecular motors. Our in vitro setup allows us to simultaneously control the parameters monitoring tube growth and measure its characteristics. We perform numerical simulations of membrane tube growth, using the experimentally measured values of all parameters, and analyze the growt

SUBMITTER: Campas O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2397365 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature