title: Use of muscle contraction formalism for kinesin in fast axonal transport.
abstract: The general procedure is discussed for calculating the velocity of a vesicle along a microtubule. The formalism used previously for isotonic contraction in muscle (with multiple actin sites for a given cross-bridge) can be employed. However, some modifications must be made: (i) the kinetic diagram must include a state in which kinesin is absent from a vesicle binding site, (ii) an average must be taken over the locations of the vesicle binding sites relative to microtubule sites, and (iii) a self-consistency condition must be imposed that equates the mean force exerted by kinesin molecules on the vesicle with the frictional resisting force of the medium.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001370:Axonal Transport; D016547:Kinesins; D007700:Kinetics; D008870:Microtubules / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D016547:Kinesins