ABSTRACT
Motor proteins have two main biological functions. One is to develop mechanical forces for supporting transport of cellular species and for maintaining important biochemical processes associated with transfer of genetic information. We already discussed some fundamental features associated with exerting mechanical forces by biological molecular motors. The second function, which we did not mention yet, is to serve as enzymatic molecules. This means that motor proteins might speed up some specific chemical reactions in cells. Probably, the most important such reaction is the hydrolysis of ATP molecules or related compounds. These two functions of biological motors are tightly coupled with each other. The energy released in these catalyzed chemical processes is utilized by motors for doing the necessary mechanical work. So if we want to understand microscopic mechanisms of motor proteins, their catalytic properties are very important, and they should be discussed in more detail.
