The Force Generated by a Single Kinesin Molecule Against an Elastic Load

To probe the mechanism by which the motor protein kinesin moves along microtubules, we have developed a highly sensitive technique for measuring the force exerted by a single motor molecule. In this technique, one end of a microtubule is attached to the tip of a flexible glass fiber of calibrated stiffness. The other end of the microtubule makes contact with a surface sparsely coated with kinesin. By imaging the tip of the glass fiber on a photodiode detector, displacement of the microtubule by kinesin through as little as 1 nm can be detected and forces as small as 1 pN resolved. Using this force-fiber apparatus we have characterized the mechanical output of this molecular motor. The speed at which a molecule of kinesin moved along the surface of a microtubule decreased linearly as the elastic force was increased. The force required to stop a single kinesin molecule was 5.4 ± 1.0 pN (mean ± SD; n = 16), independent of the stiffness of the fiber, the damping from the fluid, and whether the ATP concentration was high or low.