Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 24, 2026

Axonal Transport of Organelles in Motor Neuron Cultures using Microfluidic Chambers System
Published on: May 5, 2020
Deciphering the transport of elastic filaments by antagonistic motor proteins
Stéphanie Portet1, Cécile Leduc2, Sandrine Etienne-Manneville2
1Department of Mathematics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, R3T 2N2 Manitoba, Canada.
Abstract:
Intermediate filaments are long elastic fibers that are transported by the microtubule-associated motor proteins kinesin and dynein inside the cell. How elastic filaments are efficiently transported by antagonistic motors is not well understood and is difficult to measure with current experimental techniques. Adapting the tug-of-war paradigm for vesiclelike cargos, we develop a mathematical model to describe the motion of an elastic filament punctually bound to antagonistic motors. As observed in cells, up to three modes of transport are obtained; dynein-driven retrograde, kinesin-driven anterograde fast motions, and a slow motion. Motor properties and initial conditions that depend on intracellular context regulate the transport of filaments. Filament elasticity is found to affect both the mode and the efficiency of transport. We further show that the coordination of motors along the filament emerges from the interplay between intracellular context and elastic properties of filaments.
Related Concept Videos
Regulated mRNA Transport
Protein Transport to the Thylakoids
Protein Transport to the Stroma
Protein complexes called the translocon of the outer chloroplast membrane or TOC complex, and the translocon of the inner chloroplast membrane or TIC complex mediate the...
Microtubule Associated Motor Proteins
Overview of Protein Sorting and Transport
Protein sorting can be of two types: signal-based sorting and vesicle-based trafficking. In signal-based sorting, specific amino acid sequences called sorting signals target proteins to the proper location inside the cell either via gated transport or by protein translocation. In gated transport, folded...
Protein Transport to the Inner Chloroplast Membrane

