title: Protein transport in the connecting cilium of a photoreceptor cell: modeling the effects of bidirectional protein transitions between the diffusion-driven and motor-driven kinetic states.
abstract: Physics of protein transport through the connecting cilium (CC) of a photoreceptor cell is a long-standing question in cellular biology. There is evidence implicating both molecular motor-driven and diffusion-driven modes of intracellular transport. Based on available experimental clues, this paper develops a new model for intraflagellar transport (IFT) of proteins synthesized in the inner segment and transported through the CC to the outer segment of a photoreceptor cell. The model accounts for the competition between two modes of protein transport: molecular motor-driven transport and diffusion. The obtained solutions made it possible to calculate how the number of protein molecules transported through the CC at a given time depends on their diffusivity. Modeling results were compared with published experimental estimates, and conclusions about possible contributions of diffusion to IFT were made.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7910, USA. avkuznet@ncsu.edu
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Kuznetsov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002923:Cilia / Q000378:metabolism; D005136:Eye Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D020419:Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate / Q000378:metabolism*; D021381:Protein Transport / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D005136:Eye Proteins