Dynamic motions of molecular motors in the actin cytoskeleton
Abstract
During intracellular transport, cellular cargos, such as organelles, vesicles, and proteins, are transported within cells. Intracellular transport plays an important role in diverse cellular functions. Molecular motors walking on the cytoskeleton facilitate active intracellular transport, which is more efficient than diffusion‐based passive transport. Active transport driven by kinesin and dynein walking on microtubules has been studied well during recent decades. However, mechanisms of active transport occurring in disorganized actin networks via myosin motors remain elusive. To provide physiologically relevant insights, we probed motions of myosin motors in actin networks under various conditions using our well‐established computational model that rigorously accounts for the mechanical and dynamical behaviors of the actin cytoskeleton. We demonstrated that myosin motions can be confined due to three different reasons in the absence of F‐actin turnover. We verified mechanisms of motor stalling using in vitro reconstituted actomyosin networks. We also found that with F‐actin turnover, motors consistently move for a long time without significant confinement. Our study sheds light on the importance of F‐actin turnover for effective active transport in the actin cytoskeleton.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 2019
- Source ID
- 10.1002/cm.21582
Entities
People
- Alan Tabatabai
- Jacob J. Thomas
- Michael P. Murrell
- S. M. Ali Tabei
- Taeyoon Kim
- Wonyeong Jung
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- Human Frontier Science Program
- National Cancer Institute
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences
- National Science Foundation
- Purdue University
- University of Northern Iowa
- Yale University