Biased Diffusive Search Triggered by ATP Binding During Kinesin's Stepping

In this paper, we present an asymmetry conformational potential with a reflecting boundary and an absorbing boundary, in which the diffusive search of the free head of kinesin motor can be biased toward its forward binding site. Under a wide range of condition, using first-passage time analysis we perform numerical simulation to the Langevin equation, and obtain the dependence of the dwell time for forward steps on the load force. And we calculate the expression for the dwell time by the Laplace transform method. Both numerical and analytical results show that the dwell times exponentially depend on the load force, which provide a simple physical explanation for experimental data. Our results suggest that ATP binding-conformation change in the neck linker plays an important role in unidirectional steps during kinesin's mechanochemical cycle. (general)