Molecular motors: not quite like clockwork.
Models commonly used to explain the mechanism of myosin motors typically include a power stroke that is attributed to a conformational change in the motor domain and amplified by a long lever arm that connects the motor domain to the cargo. Similar models have proved less enlightening in the case of microtubule motors, for which it may be more helpful to consider models involving thermally driven mechanisms.
Amos
L A
LA
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, United Kingdom. laa@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk
D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D004398:Dyneins / Q000502:physiology; D016547:Kinesins / Q000502:physiology; D008870:Microtubules / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008954:Models, Biological; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D009218:Myosins / Q000502:physiology*
D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; D009218:Myosins; D004398:Dyneins; D016547:Kinesins