Intracellular transport by single-headed kinesin KIF1A: Effects of single-motor mechanochemistry and steric interactions

In eukaryotic cells, many motor proteins can move simultaneously on a single microtubule track. This leads to interesting collective phenomena such as jamming. Recently we reported [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 118101 (2005)] a lattice-gas model which describes traffic of unconventional (single-headed) kinesins KIF1A. Here we generalize this model, introducing an interaction parameter c, to account for an interesting mechanochemical process. We have been able to extract all the parameters of the model, except c, from experimentally measured quantities. In contrast to earlier models of intracellular molecular motor traffic, our model assigns distinct chemical (or, conformational) states to each kinesin to account for the hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the chemical fuel of the motor. Our model makes experimentally testable theoretical predictions. We determine the phase diagram of the model in planes spanned by experimentally controllable parameters, namely, the concentrations of kinesins and ATP. Furthermore, the phase-separated regime is studied in some detail using analytical methods and simulations to determine, e.g., the position of shocks. Comparison of our theoretical predictions with experimental results is expected to elucidate the nature of the mechanochemical process captured by the parameter c.