title: Bidirectional cargo transport: moving beyond tug of war.
abstract: Vesicles, organelles and other intracellular cargo are transported by kinesin and dynein motors, which move in opposite directions along microtubules. This bidirectional cargo movement is frequently described as a 'tug of war' between oppositely directed molecular motors attached to the same cargo. However, although many experimental and modelling studies support the tug-of-war paradigm, numerous knockout and inhibition studies in various systems have found that inhibiting one motor leads to diminished motility in both directions, which is a 'paradox of co-dependence' that challenges the paradigm. In an effort to resolve this paradox, three classes of bidirectional transport models--microtubule tethering, mechanical activation and steric disinhibition--are proposed, and a general mathematical modelling framework for bidirectional cargo transport is put forward to guide future experiments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: William O
authors.initials: WO
authors.lastname: Hancock
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001693:Biological Transport, Active / Q000502:physiology; D004398:Dyneins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D016547:Kinesins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008870:Microtubules / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological
chemical_list: D004398:Dyneins; D016547:Kinesins