We also show that nucleotide-free walking can occur without the native neck linker, suggesting that the sensor for tension-induced detachment resides within the microtubule interface of the kinesin motor domain itself. This interface also has an asymmetry for force-induced dissociation, with preferential release with a plus-end-directed force (our data and Uemura and Ishiwata, 2003). Thus, intramolecular tension would favor the release of the rear head, helping to maintain head-head coordination and processivity.
Synthesizing these results and work of others, we suggest a model for how kinesin heads communicate during motility (Figure 7). For kinesin to take an 8 nm step, two events have to happen: 1) the rear head has to detach, and 2) the neck linker has to dock to pull the detached head forward. The finding that external tension promotes rear head detachment leads us to propose that intramolecular strain promotes rear head dissociation. Moreover, strain-mediated rear head detachment is likely synchronized with its nucleotide state. If the rear head is in an ATP or ADP-Pi state, then our results suggest that large forces (∼9 pN; Figure 5) are required to dissociate the head, which may likely exceed the forces produced by intramolecular tension. However, after the rear head releases the inorganic phosphate and is in a weak-binding ADP state, then lower forces (∼1 pN) would suffice for rear head detachment. Such a mechanism also would allow kinesin to synchronize the timing of its step with distinct chemical states in the front and rear heads. To enable rapid rates of kinesin stepping at saturating ATP concentrations, we also propose that the partial docking of the neck linker in the front head upon ATP binding accelerates rear head release (by providing a directional force that increases the tension on the rear head, similar to the assisting pull from an optical trap; Figure 7). However, further experiments will be required to determine whether neck linker docking can be initiated in the front head prior to rear head release and the magnitude of added tension that might be produced (discussed below).