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Query: EC:3.6.4.4 (kinesin)
 5,033 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Kinesins are microtubule motors that use the energy derived from the hydrolysis of ATP to move unidirectionally along microtubules. The founding member of this still growing superfamily is conventional kinesin, a dimeric motor that moves processively towards the plus end of microtubules. Within the family of conventional kinesins, two groups can be distinguished to date, one derived from animal species, and one originating from filamentous fungi. So far no conventional kinesin has been reported from plant cells. Fungal and animal conventional kinesins differ in several respects, both in terms of their primary sequence and their physiological properties. Thus all fungal conventional kinesins move at velocities that are 4-5 times higher than those of animal conventional kinesins, and all of them appear to lack associated light chains. Both groups of motors are characterized by a number of group-specific sequence features which are considered here with respect to their functional importance. Animal and fungal conventional kinesins also share a number of sequence characteristics which point to common principles of motor function. The overall domain organization is remarkably similar. A C-terminal sequence motif common to all kinesins, which constitutes the only region of high homology outside the motor domain, suggests common principles of cargo association in both groups of motors. Consideration of the differences of, and similarities between, fungal and animal kinesins offers novel possibilities for experimentation (e. g., by constructing chimeras) that can be expected to contribute to our understanding of motor function.
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PMID:Universal and unique features of kinesin motors: insights from a comparison of fungal and animal conventional kinesins. 1049 42

Motor-powered movement along microtubule tracks is important for membrane organization and trafficking. However, the molecular basis for membrane transport is poorly understood, in part because of the difficulty in reconstituting this process from purified components. Using video microscopic observation of organelle transport in vitro as an assay, we have purified two polypeptides (245 and 170 kD) from Dictyostelium extracts that independently reconstitute plus-end-directed membrane movement at in vivo velocities. Both polypeptides were found to be kinesin motors, and the 245-kD protein (DdUnc104) is a close relative of Caenorhabditis elegans Unc104 and mouse KIF1A, neuron-specific motors that deliver synaptic vesicle precursors to nerve terminals. A knockout of the DdUnc104 gene produces a pronounced defect in organelle transport in vivo and in the reconstituted assay. Interestingly, DdUnc104 functions as a dimeric motor, in contrast to other members of this kinesin subfamily, which are monomeric.
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PMID:Reconstitution of membrane transport powered by a novel dimeric kinesin motor of the Unc104/KIF1A family purified from Dictyostelium. 1054 95

Ncd is a kinesin-related motor protein which drives movement to the minus-end of microtubules. The kinetics of Ncd were investigated using the dimeric construct MC1 (Leu(209)-Lys(700)) expressed in Escherichia coli strain BL21(DE) as a nonfusion protein [Chandra, R., Salmon, E. D., Erickson, H. P., Lockhart, A., and Endow, S. A. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 9005-9013]. Acid chemical quench flow methods were used to measure directly the rate of ATP hydrolysis, and stopped-flow kinetic methods were used to determine the kinetics of mantATP binding, mantADP release, dissociation of MC1 from the microtubule, and binding of MC1 to the microtubule. The results define a minimal kinetic mechanism, M.N + ATP M.N.ATP M.N.ADP.P N. ADP.P N.ADP + P M.N.ADP M.N + ADP, where N, M, and P represent Ncd, microtubules, and inorganic phosphate respectively, with k(+1) = 2.3 microM(-1) s(-1), k(+2) =23 s(-1), k(+3) =13 s(-1), k(+5)= 0.7 microM(-)(1) s(-)(1), and k(+6) = 3.7 s(-)(1). Phosphate release (k(+4)) was not measured directly although it is assumed to be fast relative to ADP release because Ncd is purified with ADP tightly bound at the active site. ATP hydrolysis occurs at 23 s(-)(1) prior to Ncd dissociation at 13 s(-)(1). The pathway for ATP-promoted detachment (steps 1-3) of Ncd from the microtubule is comparable to kinesin's. However, there are two major differences between the mechanisms of Ncd and kinesin. In contrast to kinesin, mantADP release for Ncd at 3.7 s(-)(1) is the slowest step in the pathway and is believed to limit steady-state turnover. Additionally, the burst amplitude observed in the pre-steady-state acid quench experiments is stoichiometric, indicating that Ncd, in contrast to kinesin, is not processive for ATP hydrolysis.
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PMID:Kinetic studies of dimeric Ncd: evidence that Ncd is not processive. 1067 28

Atomic resolution three-dimensional structures of two oppositely directed kinesin motors - conventional kinesin and non-claret disjunctional (ncd) protein - are now available in their functional dimeric form. A detailed model of the microtubule has also been recently obtained by docking the 3.7 A structure of tubulin into a 20 A map of the microtubule. Recent structural studies of kinesin motors and their microtubule tracks are contributing to our current understanding of kinesin motor mechanisms.
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PMID:Kinesins and microtubules: their structures and motor mechanisms. 1067 55

Ncd is a minus-end-directed microtubule motor and a member of the kinesin superfamily. The Ncd dimer contains two motor domains, and cooperative interactions between the heads influence the interactions of each respective motor domain with the microtubule. The approach we have taken to understand the cooperativity between the two motor domains is to analyze the ATPase cycle of dimeric MC1 and monomeric MC6. The steps in the ATPase cycle where cooperativity occurs can be identified by comparing the two mechanisms. The rate-limiting step in the MC6 mechanism is ADP release at 3.4 s(-)(1). The observed rate constant for ATP-induced dissociation from the microtubule is 14 s(-)(1). However, the relative amplitude associated with MC6 dissociation is extremely small in comparison to the amplitude associated with dimeric MC1 dissociation kinetics. The amplitude data indicate that monomeric MC6 does not detach from the microtubule during the initial turnovers of ATP, and ATP hydrolysis is uncoupled from movement. The results show that cooperative interactions between the motor domains of the dimer are required for ATP-dependent dissociation; therefore, one function of the partner motor domain may be to weaken the interaction of the adjacent head with the microtubule.
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PMID:Moving a microtubule may require two heads: a kinetic investigation of monomeric Ncd. 1068 15

The interactions of monomeric and dimeric kinesin and ncd constructs with microtubules have been investigated using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and several biochemical methods. There is a good consensus on the structure of dimeric ncd when bound to a tubulin dimer showing one head attached directly to tubulin, and the second head tethered to the first. However, the 3D maps of dimeric kinesin motor domains are still quite controversial and leave room for different interpretations. Here we reinvestigated the microtubule binding patterns of dimeric kinesins by cryo-EM and digital 3D reconstruction under different nucleotide conditions and different motor:tubulin ratios, and determined the molecular mass of motor-tubulin complexes by STEM. Both methods revealed complementary results. We found that the ratio of bound kinesin motor-heads to alphabeta-tubulin dimers was never reaching above 1.5 irrespective of the initial mixing ratios. It appears that each kinesin dimer occupies two microtubule-binding sites, provided that there is a free one nearby. Thus the appearances of different image reconstructions can be explained by non-specific excess binding of motor heads. Consequently, the use of different apparent density distributions for docking the X-ray structures onto the microtubule surface leads to different and mutually exclusive models. We propose that in conditions of stoichiometric binding the two heads of a kinesin dimer separate and bind to different tubulin subunits. This is in contrast to ncd where the two heads remain tightly attached on the microtubule surface. Using dimeric kinesin molecules crosslinked in their neck domain we also found that they stabilize protofilaments axially, but not laterally, which is a strong indication that the two heads of the dimers bind along one protofilament, rather than laterally bridging two protofilaments. A molecular walking model based on these results summarizes our conclusions and illustrates the implications of symmetry for such models.
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PMID:A new look at the microtubule binding patterns of dimeric kinesins. 1076 75

The quaternary structures of several monomeric and dimeric kinesin constructs from Homo sapiens and Drosophila melanogaster were analyzed using small angle x-ray and neutron scattering. The experimental scattering curves of these proteins were compared with simulated scattering curves calculated from available crystallographic coordinates. These comparisons indicate that the overall conformations of the solution structures of D. melanogaster and H. sapiens kinesin heavy chain dimers are compatible with the crystal structure of dimeric kinesin from Rattus norvegicus. This suggests that the unusual asymmetric conformation of dimeric kinesin in the microtubule-independent ADP state is likely to be a general feature of the kinesin heavy chain subfamily. An intermediate length Drosophila construct (365 residues) is mostly monomeric at low protein concentration whereas at higher concentrations it is dimeric with a tendency to form higher oligomers.
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PMID:The overall conformation of conventional kinesins studied by small angle X-ray and neutron scattering. 1102 Mar 87

The ncd protein is a dimeric, ATP-powered motor that belongs to the kinesin family of microtubule motor proteins. Here we resolve single mechanochemical cycles of recombinant, dimeric, full-length ncd, using optical-tweezers-based instrumentation and a three-bead, suspended-microtubule assay. Under conditions of limiting ATP, isolated and transient microtubule-binding events exhibit exponentially distributed and ATP-concentration-dependent lifetimes. These events do not involve consecutive steps along the microtubule, quantitatively confirming that ncd is non-processive. At low loads, a single motor molecule produces ATP-triggered working strokes of about 9 nm, which occur at the ends of binding events.
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PMID:Working strokes by single molecules of the kinesin-related microtubule motor ncd. 1102 63

Cryo-electron microscopy and 3D image reconstruction of microtubules saturated with kinesin dimers has shown one head bound to tubulin, the other free. The free head of rat kinesin sits on the top right of the bound head (with the microtubule oriented plus-end upwards) in the presence of 5'-adenylylimido-diphosphate (AMPPNP) and on the top left in nucleotide-free solutions. To understand the relevance of this movement, we investigated other dimeric plus-end-directed motors: Neurospora kinesin (Nkin); Eg5, a slow non-processive kinesin; and a chimera of Ncd heads attached to Nkin necks. In the AMPPNP (ATP-like) state, all dimers have the free head to the top right. In the absence of nucleotide, the free head of an Nkin dimer appears to occupy alternative positions to either side of the bound head. Despite having the Nkin neck, the free head of the chimera was only seen to the top right of the bound head. Eg5 also has the free head mostly to the top right. We suggest that processive movement may require kinesins to move their heads in alternative ways.
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PMID:Structural comparison of dimeric Eg5, Neurospora kinesin (Nkin) and Ncd head-Nkin neck chimera with conventional kinesin. 1103 98

The directed movement of molecular motors is studied theoretically within a general class of nonuniform ratchet models in which the motor can attain M internal states and undergo transitions between these states at K spatial locations. The functional relationship between the motor velocity and the concentration of the fuel molecule is analyzed for arbitrary values of M and K. This relationship is found to exhibit universal features which depend on the number of unbalanced transitions per motor cycle arising from the enzymatic motor activity. This agrees with experimental results on dimeric kinesin and is predicted to apply to other cytoskeletal motors.
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PMID:Universal aspects of the chemomechanical coupling for molecular motors. 1106 Jun 48


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