TY - JOUR T1 - How Molecular Motors Are Arranged on a Cargo Is Important for Vesicular Transport A1 - Erickson, Robert P. A1 - Jia, Zhiyuan A1 - Gross, Steven P. A1 - Yu, Clare C. Y1 - 2011/05/05 N2 - Author Summary The spatial organization of living cells depends upon a transportation system consisting of molecular motor proteins that act like porters carrying cargos along filaments that are analogous to roads. The breakdown of this transportation system has been associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's disease. In living cells, cargos are typically carried by multiple motors. While some aspects of multiple motor function have received attention, how the cargo itself affects transport has not been considered. To address this, we developed a three-dimensional computer simulation of motors transporting a spherical cargo subject to fluctuations produced when small molecules in the intracellular environment buffet the cargo. These fluctuations can cause the cargo to pull on the motors, slowing them down and making them detach from the filament (road). This effect increases as the cargo size and viscosity of the medium increase. We also found that the presence of the cargo helped the motors to bind to a filament before it drifted away. If other filaments were present, then the cargo could bind to one of them. Our results also indicated that it is better to group the motors on the cargo rather than spread them randomly over the surface. JF - PLOS Computational Biology JA - PLOS Computational Biology VL - 7 IS - 5 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002032 SP - e1002032 EP - PB - Public Library of Science M3 - doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002032 ER -