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Updated: Aug 8, 2025

Characterizing the Composition of Molecular Motors on Moving Axonal Cargo Using "Cargo Mapping" Analysis
Published on: October 30, 2014
New types of complex motion of a simple camphor boat
Richard J G Löffler1,2, Tomasz Roliński1, Hiroyuki Kitahata3
1Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, Warsaw 01-224, Poland. jgorecki@ichf.edu.pl.
Abstract:
We discuss the motion of a rectangular camphor boat, considering the position of a camphor pill in relation to the boat's stern as the control parameter. The boat moves because the pill releases surface active molecules that decrease the surface tension and support the motion. We introduce a new experimental system in which the boat rotates on a long arm around the axis located at the centre of a Petri dish; thus, the motion is restricted to a circle and can be studied under stationary conditions for a long time. The experiments confirmed two previously reported modes of motion: continuous motion when the pill was located at the boat edge and pulsating (intermittent) motion if it was close to the boat centre (Suematsu et al., J. Phys. Chem. C, 2010, 114(21), 9876-9882). For intermediate pill locations, we observed a new, unreported type of motion characterised by oscillating speed (i.e. oscillating motion). Different modes of motion can be observed for the same pill location. The experimental results are qualitatively confirmed using a simple reaction-diffusion model of the boat evolution used in the above-mentioned paper.
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