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Kinesin Molecular Motor Walk (2D)

Interactive 2D simulation of a kinesin motor protein hand-over-hand walking along a microtubule protofilament, driven by an ATP hydrolysis cycle, a load-force-dependent stepping-rate (force-velocity) relation, and per-step detachment probability, with live position-time and velocity-load traces.

Molecular Biology2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

Kinesin is a two-headed protein nanomachine that hauls cargo along microtubule filaments inside living cells by converting ATP hydrolysis into discrete 8 nm mechanical steps. This 2D canvas rendering shows the microtubule as a lattice of tubulin-dimer binding sites and animates a kinesin dimer walking hand-over-hand along a single protofilament, with each step gated by the same load- and temperature-dependent stochastic model used in the 3D version — matched to single-molecule optical-trap measurements. Alongside the walk, a live position-vs-time trace and a computed force-velocity curve show the motor's speed converging to zero near its real ~7 pN stall force, and a per-step detachment probability models the motor's finite processivity (run length before it lets go).

⚙ Under the hood

Watch a kinesin motor protein walk hand-over-hand along a microtubule, driven by an ATP hydrolysis cycle and a stochastic 8 nm stepping model, with tunable ATP level, load force and thermal noise.

nanobiologymolecular motorkinesinmicrotubuleATPbiophysics

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install