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Updated: May 9, 2026

Assembling Molecular Shuttles Powered by Reversibly Attached Kinesins
Published on: January 26, 2019
Cooperative force generation of KIF1A Brownian motors
David Oriola1, Jaume Casademunt
1Departament d'Estructura i Constituents de la Matèria, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Avinguda Diagonal 647, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain.
Abstract:
KIF1A is a kinesin motor protein that can work processively in a monomeric (single-headed) form by using a noise-driven ratchet mechanism. Here, we show that the combination of a passive diffusive state and finite-time kinetics of adenosine triphosphate hydrolysis provides a powerful mechanism of cooperative force generation, implying for instance that ∼10 monomeric KIF1As can team up to become ∼100 times stronger than a single one. Consequently, we propose that KIF1A could outperform conventional (double-headed) kinesin collectively and thus explain its specificity in axonal trafficking. We elucidate the cooperativity mechanism with a lattice model that includes multiparticle transitions.
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