Jamming of molecular motors as a tool for transport cargos along microtubules

The hopping model for cargo transport by molecular motors introduced in Refs. [12, 13] is extended in order to incorporate the movement of cargo-motor complexes (C-MC). Hopping processes in this context expresses the possibility for cargo to be exchanged between neighboring motors at a microtubule where the transport takes place. Jamming of motors is essential for cargos to execute long-range movement in this way. Results from computer simulations of the extended model indicate that cargo may indeed execute bidirectional movement in the presence of motors of a single polarity, con…rming previous analytical results. Moreover, these results suggest the existence of a balance between cargo hopping and the movement of the complex that may control the e¢ ciency of cargo transfer and cargo delivery. An analysis of the energy involved in this transport process shows that the model presented here o¤ers a considerable advantage over other models in the literature for which cargo dynamics is subordinated to the movement of the C-MC. keywords intracellular transport by molecular motors; bidirectional movement of cargo; tra¢ c jam on microtubules; ASEP models.