Average Speed of Kinesin

Conventional kinesin is a motor protein that moves stepwise along microtubules carrying membrane-bound organelles toward the periphery of cells. It is powered by the hydrolysis of ATP (PubMed, 1999). Assume that the steps of the motion are 8.0 \(nm\) (the distance between adjacent tubulin binding sites), each step takes about 49.4 \(\mu s\), and on average there is 13.9 \(ms\) delay between steps.

Question Text

Calculate the average speed of this protein in SI units. Round your answer to two significant figures.

Answer Section

Please enter in a numeric value in \(m/s\).

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