Abstract
At physiological or saturating ATP concentrations, some families of kinesin motors, such as kinesin-1 and kinesin-2, exhibit a predominant two-heads-bound (2HB) state during their stepping cycle on microtubules, while others, such as kinesin-3, exhibit a predominant one-head-bound (1HB) state. An interesting but unclear issue is what factors determine a kinesin motor in the predominant 1HB and 2HB states. Here, on the basis of the general chemomechanical pathway of the kinesin motors, a theory is given on fractions of 1HB and 2HB states. With the theory, the factors affecting a kinesin motor in the predominant 1HB and 2HB states are determined. The results about the effects of ATP concentration, ADP concentration and external load on the fractions of 1HB and 2HB states are presented. Furthermore, the theory is applied to kinesin-1, kinesin-2, kinesin-3, kinesin-5 and kinesin-13 motors, with the theoretical results agreeing well with published experimental data.