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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)

Conventional kinesin is a highly processive, plus-end-directed microtubule-based motor that drives membranous organelles toward the synapse in neurons. Although recent structural, biochemical, and mechanical measurements are beginning to converge into a common view of how kinesin converts the energy from ATP turnover into motion, it remains difficult to dissect experimentally the intermolecular domain cooperativity required for kinesin processivity. We report here our pre-steady-state kinetic analysis of a kinesin switch I mutant at Arg(210) (NXXSSRSH, residues 205-212 in Drosophila kinesin). The results show that the R210A substitution results in a dimeric kinesin that is defective for ATP hydrolysis and a motor that cannot detach from the microtubule although ATP binding and microtubule association occur. We propose a mechanistic model in which ATP binding at head 1 leads to the plus-end-directed motion of the neck linker to position head 2 forward at the next microtubule binding site. However, ATP hydrolysis is required at head 1 to lock head 2 onto the microtubule in a tight binding state before head 1 dissociation from the microtubule. This mechanism optimizes forward movement and processivity by ensuring that one motor domain is tightly bound to the microtubule before the second can detach.
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PMID:The role of ATP hydrolysis for kinesin processivity. 1186 69

Myosin-V is a versatile motor involved in short-range transport of vesicles in the actin-rich cortex of the cell. It binds to several different kinds of vesicles, and the mechanism by which it interacts with the vesicle surface is being unraveled, primarily in melanocytes. Members of the Rab family of G-proteins are required for the recruitment of myosin-V to vesicles. Rab27a and its rabphilin-like effector protein, Melanophilin, recruit myosin-Va to melanosomes and appear to serve as the membrane receptor. Myosin-V is also involved in fast axonal/dendritic transport and, interestingly, it forms a complex with kinesin, a microtubule-based motor. This kinesin/myosin-V heteromotor complex allows long-range movement of vesicles within axons and dendrites on microtubules and short-range movement in the dendritic spines and axon terminals on actin filaments. The direct interaction of motors from both filament systems may represent the mechanism by which the transition of vesicles from microtubules to actin filaments is regulated.
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PMID:Myosin-V, a versatile motor for short-range vesicle transport. 1245 49

Bipolar spindle formation is essential for the accurate segregation of genetic material during cell division. Although centrosomes influence the number of spindle poles during mitosis, motor and non-motor microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) also play key roles in determining spindle morphology. TPX2 is a novel MAP also characterized in Xenopus cell-free extracts. To examine hTPX2 (human TPX2) function in human cells, we used siRNA to knock-down its expression and found that cells lacking hTPX2 arrest in mitosis with multipolar spindles. NuMA, gamma-tubulin, and centrin localize to each pole, and nocodazole treatment of cells lacking hTPX2 demonstrates that the localization of gamma-tubulin to multiple spindle poles requires intact microtubules. Furthermore, we show that the formation of monopolar microtubule arrays in human cell extracts does not require hTPX2, demonstrating that the mechanism by which hTPX2 promotes spindle bipolarity is independent of activities focusing microtubule minus ends at spindle poles. Finally, inhibition of the kinesin Eg5 in hTPX2-depleted cells leads to monopolar spindles, indicating that Eg5 function is necessary for multipolar spindle formation in the absence of hTPX2. Our observations reveal a structural role for hTPX2 in spindles and provide evidence for a balance between microtubule-based motor forces and structural spindle components.
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PMID:hTPX2 is required for normal spindle morphology and centrosome integrity during vertebrate cell division. 1247 96

The movement of pollen tube organelles relies on cytoskeletal elements. Although the movement of organelles along actin filaments in the pollen tube has been studied widely and is becoming progressively clear, it remains unclear what role microtubules play. Many uncertainties about the role of microtubules in the active transport of pollen tube organelles and/or in the control of this process remain to be resolved. In an effort to determine if organelles are capable of moving along microtubules in the absence of actin, we extracted organelles from tobacco pollen tubes and analyzed their ability to move along in vitro-polymerized microtubules under different experimental conditions. Regardless of their size, the organelles moved at different rates along microtubules in the presence of ATP. Cytochalasin D did not inhibit organelle movement, indicating that actin filaments are not required for organelle transport in our assay. The movement of organelles was cytosol independent, which suggests that soluble factors are not necessary for the organelle movement to occur and that microtubule-based motor proteins are present on the organelle surface. By washing organelles with KI, it was possible to release proteins capable of gliding carboxylated beads along microtubules. Several membrane fractions, which were separated by Suc density gradient centrifugation, showed microtubule-based movement. Proteins were extracted by KI treatment from the most active organelle fraction and then analyzed with an ATP-sensitive microtubule binding assay. Proteins isolated by the selective binding to microtubules were tested for the ability to glide microtubules in the in vitro motility assay, for the presence of microtubule-stimulated ATPase activity, and for cross-reactivity with anti-kinesin antibodies. We identified and characterized a 105-kD organelle-associated motor protein that is functionally, biochemically, and immunologically related to kinesin. This work provides clear evidence that the movement of pollen tube organelles is not just actin based; rather, they show a microtubule-based motion as well. This unexpected finding suggests new insights into the use of pollen tube microtubules, which could be used for short-range transport, as actin filaments are in animal cells.
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PMID:In vitro assays demonstrate that pollen tube organelles use kinesin-related motor proteins to move along microtubules. 1250 35

Kid is a kinesin-like DNA-binding protein known to be involved in chromosome movement during mitosis, although its actual motor function has not been demonstrated. Here, we describe the initial characterization of Kid as a microtubule-based motor using optical trapping microscopy. A bacterially expressed fusion protein consisting of a truncated Kid fragment (amino acids 1-388 or 1-439) is indeed an active microtubule motor with an average speed of approximately 160 nm/s, and the polarity of movement is plus end directed. We could not detect processive movement of either monomeric Kid or dimerizing chimeric Kid; however, low levels of processivity (a few steps) cannot be detected with our method. These results are consistent with Kid having a role in chromosome congression in vivo, where it would be responsible for the polar ejection forces acting on the chromosome arms.
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PMID:The human chromokinesin Kid is a plus end-directed microtubule-based motor. 1260 72

Conventional kinesin is a highly processive, microtubule-based motor protein that drives the movement of membranous organelles in neurons. Using in vivo genetics in Drosophila melanogaster, Glu164 was identified as an amino acid critical for kinesin function [Brendza, K. M., Rose, D. J., Gilbert, S. P., and Saxton, W. M. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 31506-31514]. Glu164 is located at the beta-strand 5a/loop 8b junction of the catalytic core and projects toward the microtubule binding face in close proximity to key residues on beta-tubulin helix alpha12. Substitution of Glu(164) with alanine (E164A) results in a dimeric kinesin with a dramatic reduction in the microtubule-activated steady-state ATPase (5 s(-1) per site versus 22 s(-1) per site for wild-type). Our analysis shows that E164A binds ATP and microtubules with a higher affinity than wild-type kinesin. The rapid quench and stopped-flow results provide evidence that ATP hydrolysis is significantly faster and the precise coordination between the motor domains is disrupted. The data reveal an E164A intermediate that is stalled on the microtubule and cannot bind and hydrolyze ATP at the second head.
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PMID:Motor domain mutation traps kinesin as a microtubule rigor complex. 1261 54

Kinesins are microtubule-based motor proteins that transport cargo to specific locations within the cell. However, the mechanisms by which cargoes are directed to specific cellular locations have remained elusive. Here, we investigated the in vivo movement of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe kinesin Tea2 to establish how it is targeted to microtubule tips and cell ends. Tea2 is loaded onto microtubules in the middle of the cell, in close proximity to the nucleus, and then travels using its intrinsic motor activity primarily at the tips of polymerizing microtubules. The microtubule-associated protein Mal3, an EB1 homologue, is required for loading and/or processivity of Tea2 and this function can be substituted by human EB1. In addition, the cell-end marker Tea1 is required to anchor Tea2 to cell ends. Movement of Tea1 and the CLIP170 homologue Tip1 to cell ends is abolished in Tea2 rigor (ATPase) mutants. We propose that microtubule-based transport from the vicinity of the nucleus to cell ends can be precisely regulated, with Mal3 required for loading/processivity, Tea2 for movement and Tea1 for cell-end anchoring.
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PMID:Targeted movement of cell end factors in fission yeast. 1289 67

This study examines the microtubule configuration and its close association with the Golgi complex and Golgi-derived membranous vesicles in elongating fiber cells of the rat lens. Since fiber cells elongate tremendously during lens differentiation, we hypothesize that a microtubule-based motor system exists in the elongating fiber cells for transporting important membrane proteins and organelles to the target regions for cell growth. The newly synthesized membrane proteins are known to be transported from the trans-Golgi network in the form of vesicles to the target plasma membrane. By thin-section TEM, we observed a large number of vesicles of various sizes and shapes randomly distributed throughout the cytoplasm of elongating fiber cells. Both Golgi complex and vesicles exhibited characteristic normal structural features seen in other cell types and thus represented real vesicular organelles in the fiber cells. A large number of microtubules were regularly arranged into bundles parallel to the long axis of fiber cells as examined in both longitudinal and cross-section views. Many of these microtubules were closely associated or in intimate contact with the Golgi complex and vesicles in elongating fiber cells. The microtubule polarity assay revealed that microtubules exhibited a unidirectional polarity for the entire length of fiber cells as examined in both anterior and posterior cortical fiber segments. Namely, the minus end of microtubules was towards the anterior lens pole while the plus end was headed towards the posterior pole. This suggests that multiple molecular motors such as kinesin and dynein are needed for carrying the vesicles to both lens poles, since conventional kinesin is known to transport vesicular organelles towards the plus end whereas cytoplasmic dynein carries them towards the minus end of microtubules. By immunoblot analysis, we indeed detected the presence of both kinesin (120 kD) and dynein (70 kD) in homogenate prepared from lens cortical fibers. Moreover, immunogold TEM demonstrated that the aquaporin 0 (formally MIP26) antibody was localized on the membranous vesicles as well as plasma membranes of the cortical fiber cells. This study suggests that a microtubule-based motor system exists in the lens and plays an important role in transporting membrane proteins such as aquaporin 0 in the vesicles during fiber cell differentiation and elongation.
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PMID:Microtubule configuration and membranous vesicle transport in elongating fiber cells of the rat lens. 1455 Apr 4

Actin filaments and microtubules are two major cytoskeletal systems involved in wide cellular processes, and the organizations of their filamentous networks are regulated by a large number of associated proteins. Recently, evidence has accumulated for the functional cooperation between the two filament systems via associated proteins. However, little is known about the interactions of the kinesin superfamily proteins, a class of microtubule-based motor proteins, with actin filaments. Here, we describe the identification and characterization of a novel kinesin-related protein named DdKin5 from Dictyostelium. DdKin5 consists of an N-terminal conserved motor domain, a central stalk region, and a C-terminal tail domain. The motor domain showed binding to microtubules in an ATP-dependent manner that is characteristic of kinesin-related proteins. We found that the C-terminal tail domain directly interacts with actin filaments and bundles them in vitro. Immunofluorescence studies showed that DdKin5 is specifically enriched at the actin-rich surface protrusions in cells. Overexpression of the DdKin5 protein affected the organization of actin filaments in cells. We propose that a kinesin-related protein, DdKin5, is a novel actin-bundling protein and a potential cross-linker of actin filaments and microtubules associated with specific actin-based structures in Dictyostelium.
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PMID:A novel actin-bundling kinesin-related protein from Dictyostelium discoideum. 1462 97

Axonal transport is the specialized and well-developed intracellular transport system for regulated and/or long-distance transport based on generalized cellular machineries. Among them, slow axonal transport conveys cytoplasmic proteins. The motor molecule, the nature of transporting complex and the transport regulation mechanism for slow transport are still unclarified. There has been a dispute regarding the nature of transporting complex of cytoskeletal proteins, polymer-sliding hypothesis versus subunit-transport theory. Recent data supporting the hypothesis of polymer sliding in cultured neurons only reconfirm the previously reported structure and this inference suffers from the lack of ultrastructural evidence and the direct relevance to the physiological slow transport phenomenon in vivo. Observation of the moving cytoskeletal proteins in vivo using transgenic mice or squid giant axons revealed that subunits do move in a microtubule-dependent manner, strongly indicating the involvement of microtubule-based motor kinesin. If the slow transport rate reflects the intermittent fast transport dependent on kinesin motor, we have to investigate the molecular constituents of the transporting complex in more detail and evaluate why the motor and cargo interaction is so unstable. This kind of weak and fluctuating interaction between various molecular pairs could not be detected by conventional techniques, thus necessitating the establishment of a new experimental system before approaching the molecular regulation problem.
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PMID:Where does slow axonal transport go? 1463 Mar 40


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