Shock of three-state model for intracellular transport of kinesin KIF1A

Abstract

Recently, a three-state model is presented to describe the intracellular traffic of unconventional (single-headed) kinesin KIF1A [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 95}, 118101 (2005)], in which each motor can bind strongly or weakly to its microtubule track, and each binding site of the track might be empty or occupied by one motor. As the usual two-state model, i.e. the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) with motor detachment and attachment, in steady state of the system, this three-state model also exhibits shock (or domain wall separating the high-density and low density phases) and boundary layers. In this study, using mean-field analysis, the conditions of existence of shock and boundary layers are obtained theoretically. Combined with numerical calculations, the properties of shock are also studied. This study will be helpful to understand the biophysical properties of the collective transport of kinesin KIF1A.