A mechanical model for the role of the neck linker during kinesin stepping and gating

In this paper, considering the different elastic properties in the attached head and the free head, we propose a physical model, in which the free head undergoes a diffusive search in an entropic spring potential formed by undocking the neck linker, and there are asymmetric conformational changes in the attached head formed by docking the neck linker to support the load force and bias the diffusive search to the forward direction. By performing the thermodynamic analysis, we obtain the free energy difference between forward and backward binding sites. And using the Fokker-Planck equation with two absorbing boundaries, we obtain the dependence of the ratio of forward to backward steps on the backward force. Also, within the Michaelis-Menten model, we investigate the dependence of the velocity-load relationship on the effective length of the junction between the two heads. The results show that our model can provide a physical understanding for the processive movement of kinesin.