  Intracellular transport of cargoes in the cell is essential for the
organization and functioning cells, especially those that are large and
elongated. The cytoskeletal networks inside large cells can be highly complex,
and this cytoskeletal organization can have impacts on the distance and
trajectories of travel. Here, we experimentally created microtubule networks
with varying mesh sizes and examined the ability of kinesin-driven quantum dot
cargoes to traverse the network. Using the experimental data, we deduced
parameters for cargo detachment at intersections and away from intersections,
allowing us to create an analytical theory for the run length as a function of
mesh size. We also used these parameters to perform simulations of cargoes
along paths extracted from the experimental networks. We find excellent
agreement between the trends in run length, displacement, and trajectory
persistence length comparing the experimental and simulated trajectories.

Biological Physics;Statistical Mechanics