Role of Molecular Motors in Endosomal Dynamics: A review

Abstract

Molecular motors are continually agitated by random Brownian motion, which provides both challenges and opportunities for energy conversion mechanisms. Molecular motors, an important class of molecular machines, harness various energy sources to generate unidirectional mechanical motion. In biological systems, molecular motors made of proteins and nucleic acids are ubiquitous, and commonly use the chemical energy of ATP or the electrochemical potential of protons across the cell membrane (the so-called proton-motive force) as an energy source. ATP synthase and V-ATPase also act as energy converters, in which ATP chemical energy and proton electrochemical potential are reversibly converted via mechanical rotation. In the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells, three different classes of motors that generate linear movement are known to exist – myosin, kinesin and dynein. Most motors studied so far in some detail can generate a force that is sufficient to move even large objects through viscous cytoplasm