Molecular Motor Mechanochemistry: Structure, Dynamics, and Function
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Biochemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 90
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Molecular motors are enzymatic proteins that convert chemical energy into mechanical work, driving cell migration. Kinesins and Dyneins organize microtubules, traffic cargos, and position-signaling modules that establish and maintain polarity, while Myosins generate contractile stress and retrograde flow in actin networks. Their mechano-chemical cycles, tuned by duty ratio, processivity, strain-dependent kinetics, and cooperative coupling to microtubules/actins, set the amplitude, timing, and direction of forces transmitted through adhesions. Motor isoform diversity, post-translational regulation, and load history create context-dependent behaviors that remain to be defined across molecular, cellular, and tissue scales. Clarifying how motors sense and generate load, coordinate with polymer dynamics, and integrate with adhesion and signaling is essential for explaining normal migration and its failures in metastasis, immunity, and development.
This Special Issue invites original research on motor roles in polarity, protrusion, and contractility; actomyosin mechanics and traction force generation; kinesin/dynein control of microtubule organization and guidance; quantitative and physics-based models/simulations of motor–cytoskeleton–adhesion coupling; advanced biophysical and imaging approaches, e.g., single-molecule assays, TIRF, super-resolution, AFM/optical tweezers, FRET, traction force microscopy, as well as pathophysiological contexts, e.g., metastasis, immune cell motility, morphogenesis.
Dr. Takeshi Sakamoto
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- molecular motors
- kinesin, dynein, myosin
- DNA helicase
- cell motility
- non-muscle myosin II
- vesicle trafficking/transportation
- single molecule imaging
- force measurement
- structure of cytoskeleton
- ATP synthesis
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