Intracellular Transport and Collective force generation by Motor Proteins

Much of biological motion is driven by tiny enzymes called "Motor" proteins. A motor burns chemical energy to initialize a nanometre-scale deformation, and then amplifies it using a lever mechanism. Forces of the order of picoNewtons can thereby be generated over distances of 1-10 nanometres to do useful work. I will start with a brief 
introduction to the mechano-chemical cycle of a single motor and models to understand the same.  

It is quite remarkable that nanometre-scale motion of many such individual motors can collectively yield deformations on the scale of microns (within cells) and metres (in tissues -- that's how you move your hand). How does collective ensemble function of tens/hundreds of motors emerge from the single-molecule properties of individual motors? I will discuss some theoretical and experimental efforts in understanding this single-to-collective transition in motor protein mechanics. It appears that certain motors are specially adapted to work in large teams, but others are not. We will also look at how (messy !!) biological processes actually utilize these motors that can work in large teams.