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Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences: CMLS logoLink to Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences: CMLS
. 2008 Jan 19;65(4):509–515. doi: 10.1007/s00018-008-7518-3

Molecular motors: not quite like clockwork

L A Amos 1,
PMCID: PMC2517985  EMSID: UKMS2217  PMID: 18202824

Abstract.

Models commonly used to explain the mechanism of myosin motors typically include a power stroke that is attributed to a conformational change in the motor domain and amplified by a long lever arm that connects the motor domain to the cargo. Similar models have proved less enlightening in the case of microtubule motors, for which it may be more helpful to consider models involving thermally driven mechanisms.

Keywords. Molecular motors, kinesin, dynein, myosin, microtubules

Footnotes

Received 9 November 2007; received after revision 7 December 2007; accepted 11 December 2007


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