Unitary stall force of molecular motors

Range kinesin ~5-7pN: mammalian cytoplasmic dynein ~1pN pN
Organism Eukaryotes
Reference Fu MM, Holzbaur EL. Integrated regulation of motor-driven organelle transport by scaffolding proteins. Trends Cell Biol. 2014 Oct24(10):564-74. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2014.05.002. p.565 left column 2nd paragraphPubMed ID24953741
Primary Source R. Mallik, et al. Teamwork in microtubule motors Trends Cell Biol., 23 (2013), pp. 575–582 doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2013.06.003.PubMed ID23877011
Comments P.565 left column 2nd paragraph:"Experimental work in several systems supports this [tug-of-war] model. For example, late endosomes and lysosomes moving along neuronal axons exhibit bidirectional motility, characterized by short run length, either toward or away from the cell body, punctuated by frequent changes in direction. Quantitative immunoblotting of purified vesicles indicates that each organelle binds few (1–2) kinesin motors and a larger team (6–12) of dynein motors [BNID 112208]. However, because kinesins generally exhibit high unitary stall forces (∼5–7 pN) whereas mammalian cytoplasmic dynein has a low unitary stall force (∼1 pN) [primary source], these opposing motors are present near force balance on each organelle. The resulting stochastic tug-of-war between these relatively evenly matched motor teams is predicted to cause frequent directional switches and low net processivity [ref 3]."
Entered by Uri M
ID 112209