Highly Loaded Behavior of Kinesins Increases the Robustness of Transport Under High Resisting Loads
Fig 2
The kinesin cycle is depicted.
The states in the upper box relate to the walking cycle of the kinesin. K denotes the kinesin molecule. The lower box relates to the unbound state of the kinesin. The variables denoted by k are transition rates between states, and PD0 and PD1 represent the probability of unbinding from the MT when the kinesin is in the state [K + MT] and [K.ATP + MT]1. (a) An ATP molecule binds to the leading head of the kinesin. (b) The binding of ATP to the kinesin head results in a structural changes in the head [38]. This change induces the docking of the neck linker to its head. The docking of the neck linker to the leading head generates a force to move the trailing head toward the plus end of MT. Then, the trailing head diffuses to the next binding site of MT by Brownian motion. (c) The moving head binds to the MT and releases ADP. (d) ATP in the rear head is hydrolyzed, and then this hydrolysis enables the release of phosphate (Pi) from the head. Then, the neck linker returns to the disordered state from the docked state.