Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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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)

Kinesin, a microtubule-based force-generating molecule, is thought to translocate organelles along microtubules. To examine the function of kinesin in neurons, we sought to suppress kinesin heavy chain (KHC) expression in cultured hippocampal neurons using antisense oligonucleotides and study the phenotype of these KHC "null" cells. Two different antisense oligonucleotides complementary to the KHC sequence reduced the protein levels of the heavy chain by greater than 95% within 24 h after application and produced identical phenotypes. After inhibition of KHC expression for 24 or 48 h, neurons extended an array of neurites often with one neurite longer than the others; however, the length of all these neurites was significantly reduced. Inhibition of KHC expression also altered the distribution of GAP-43 and synapsin I, two proteins thought to be transported in association with membranous organelles. These proteins, which are normally localized at the tips of growing neurites, were confined to the cell body in antisense-treated cells. Treatment of the cells with the corresponding sense oligonucleotides affected neither the distribution of GAP-43 and synapsin I, nor the length of neurites. A full recovery of neurite length occurred after removal of the antisense oligonucleotides from the medium. These data indicate that KHC plays a role in the anterograde translocation of vesicles containing GAP-43 and synapsin I. A deficiency in vesicle delivery may also explain the inhibition of neurite outgrowth. Despite the inhibition of KHC and the failure of GAP-43 and synapsin I to move out of the cell body, hippocampal neurons can extend processes and acquire as asymmetric morphology.
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PMID:Suppression of kinesin expression in cultured hippocampal neurons using antisense oligonucleotides. 153 97

Microtubules have been implicated as being necessary for the secretion of insulin from beta-cells, although the mechanism by which cytoplasmic microtubules contribute to the release of insulin is unknown. Kinesin is a microtubule-dependent adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) that is thought to be responsible for the intracellular transport of vesicles and organelles. In this manuscript, the purification and preliminary characterization of a beta-cell form of kinesin is described. A 120-kilodalton antikinesin-reactive polypeptide was identified on blots when cultured insulinoma tumor cell lines were subjected to immunoblot analysis using monoclonal antibodies specific for the heavy chain of mammalian kinesin. The beta-cell form of kinesin was isolated from solid rat insulinoma tumors by cosedimentation of the kinesin with microtubules from tissue homogenates in the presence of adenylyl-imidodiphosphate. The beta-cell kinesin was further purified by gel filtration chromatography, and then the pure enzyme was characterized using in vitro assays. Although beta-cell kinesin showed little ATPase activity alone, the enzyme exhibited considerable ATP hydrolysis activity in the presence of taxol-stabilized microtubules. Moreover, in motility assays beta-cell kinesin was able to translocate microtubules across microscope coverslips in the presence of Mg(2+)-ATP. In summary, we report the identity of a novel islet beta-cell form of the microtubule-dependent ATPase kinesin and suggest a possible contribution of the microtubule cytoskeleton in insulin secretion.
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PMID:The identification, purification, and characterization of a pancreatic beta-cell form of the microtubule adenosine triphosphatase kinesin. 161 13

Two Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes, CIN8 and KIP1 (a.k.a. CIN9), were identified by their requirement for normal chromosome segregation. Both genes encode polypeptides related to the heavy chain of the microtubule-based force-generating enzyme kinesin. Cin8p was found to be required for pole separation during mitotic spindle assembly at 37 degrees C, although overproduced Kip1p could substitute. At lower temperatures, the activity of at least one of these proteins was required for cell viability, indicating that they perform an essential but redundant function. Cin8p was observed to be a component of the mitotic spindle, colocalizing with the microtubules that lie between the poles. Taken together, these findings suggest that these proteins interact with spindle microtubules to produce an outwardly directed force acting upon the poles.
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PMID:Two Saccharomyces cerevisiae kinesin-related gene products required for mitotic spindle assembly. 161 97

One of our monoclonal antibodies against the heavy chain of bovine kinesin (H2) also recognized the heavy chain of squid kinesin. The immunofluorescence pattern of H2 in axoplasm was similar to that seen in mammalian cells with antibodies specific for kinesin light and heavy chains, indicating that squid kinesin is also concentrated on membrane-bounded organelles. Although kinesin is assumed to be a motor for translocation of membrane-bounded organelles in fast axonal transport, direct evidence has been lacking. Perfusion of axoplasm with purified H2 at 0.1-0.4 mg/ml resulted in a profound inhibition of both the rates and number of organelles moving in anterograde and retrograde directions in the interior of the axoplasm, and comparable inhibition was noted in bidirectional movement along individual microtubules at the periphery. Maximal inhibition developed over 30-60 min. Perfusion with higher concentrations of H2 (greater than 1 mg of IgG per ml) were less effective, whereas perfusion with 0.04 mg of H2 per ml resulted in minimal inhibition. Movement of membrane-bounded organelles after perfusion with comparable levels of irrelevant mouse IgG (0.04 to greater than 1 mg/ml) were not distinguishable from perfusion with buffer controls. Inhibition of fast axonal transport by an antibody specific for kinesin provides direct evidence that kinesin is involved in the translocation of membrane-bounded organelles in axons. Moreover, the inhibition of bidirectional axonal transport by H2 raises the possibility that kinesin may play some role in both anterograde and retrograde axonal transport.
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PMID:A monoclonal antibody against kinesin inhibits both anterograde and retrograde fast axonal transport in squid axoplasm. 168 58

Contrary to the traditional view that microtubules pull chromosomes polewards during the anaphase stage of meiotic and mitotic cell divisions, new evidence suggests that the chromosome movements are driven by a motor located at the kinetochore. The process of chromosome segregation involves proper arrangement of kinetochores for spindle attachment, followed by spindle attachment and chromosome movement. Mechanisms in Drosophila for chromosome segregation in meiosis differ in males and females, implying the action of different gene products in the two sexes. A product encoded at the claret locus in Drosophila is required for normal chromosome segregation in meiosis in females and in early mitotic divisions of the embryo. Here we show that the predicted amino-acid sequence of this product is related to the heavy chain of kinesin. The conserved region corresponds to the kinesin motor domain and includes the ATP-binding site and a region that can bind microtubules. A second region contains a leucine repeat motif which may mediate protein-subunit interactions necessary for attachment of chromosomes to the spindle. The mutant phenotype of chromosome nondisjunction and loss, and its similarity to the kinesin ATP-binding domain, suggest that the product encoded at claret not only stabilizes chromosome attachments to the spindle, but may also be a motor that drives chromosome segregation in female meiosis.
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PMID:Mediation of meiotic and early mitotic chromosome segregation in Drosophila by a protein related to kinesin. 213 98

The substrate specificities of dynein, kinesin, and myosin substrate turnover activity and cytoskeletal filament-driven translocation were examined using 15 ATP analogues. The dyneins were more selective in their substrate utilization than bovine brain kinesin or muscle heavy meromyosin, and even different types of dyneins, such as 14S and 22S dynein from Tetrahymena cilia and the beta-heavy chain-containing particle from the outer-arm dynein of sea urchin flagella, could be distinguished by their substrate specificities. Although bovine brain kinesin and muscle heavy meromyosin both exhibited broad substrate specificities, kinesin-induced microtubule translocation varied over a 50-fold range in speed among the various substrates, whereas heavy meromyosin-induced actin translocation varied only by fourfold. With both kinesin and heavy meromyosin, the relative velocities of filament translocation did not correlate well with the relative filament-activated substrate turnover rates. Furthermore, some ATP analogues that did not support the filament translocation exhibited filament-activated substrate turnover rates. Filament-activated substrate turnover and power production, therefore, appear to become uncoupled with certain substrates. In conclusion, the substrate specificities and coupling to motility are distinct for different types of molecular motor proteins. Such nucleotide "fingerprints" of enzymatic activities of motor proteins may prove useful as a tool for identifying what type of motor is involved in powering a motility-related event that can be reconstituted in vitro.
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PMID:Nucleotide specificity of the enzymatic and motile activities of dynein, kinesin, and heavy meromyosin. 182 61

The in vivo function of the microtubule motor protein kinesin was examined in Drosophila using genetics and immunolocalization. Kinesin heavy chain mutations (khc) cause abnormal behavior and lethality. Mutant larvae exhibit loss of mobility and tactile responsiveness in the most posterior segments, followed by general paralysis and death during larval or pupal development. Adults homozygous for a temperature-sensitive allele also exhibit a loss in mobility and sensory responses. The data indicate that kinesin function is essential and suggest that kinesin has an important role in the neuromuscular system, perhaps as a motor for axonal transport. The possibility of more general cellular functions remains open, but observation of embryogenesis and morphogenesis in khc mutants suggests that mitosis and the cell cycle can proceed in spite of impaired kinesin function. Immunolocalization suggests that kinesin may have some general cellular functions but that it is not a major component of mitotic spindles.
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PMID:Kinesin heavy chain is essential for viability and neuromuscular functions in Drosophila, but mutants show no defects in mitosis. 182 37

The 'motor' proteins of eukaryotic cells contain specialized domains that hydrolyse ATP to produce force and movement along a cytoskeletal polymer (actin in the case of the myosin family; microtubules in the case of the kinesin family and dyneins). There are motor-protein superfamilies in which each member has a conserved force-generating domain joined to a different 'tail' which conveys specific attachment properties. The minus-end-directed microtubule motors, the dyneins, may also constitute a superfamily of force-generating proteins with distinct attachment domains. Axonemal outer-arm dynein from sea urchin spermatozoa is a multimeric protein consisting of two heavy chains (alpha and beta) with ATPase activity, three intermediate chains and several light chains. Here I report the sequence of cloned complementary DNA encoding the beta heavy chain of a dynein motor molecule. The predicted amino-acid sequence reveals four ATP-binding consensus sequences in the central domain. The dynein beta heavy chain is thought to associate transiently with a microtubule during ATP hydrolysis, but the ATP-dependent microtubule-binding sequence common to the kinesin superfamily is not found in the dynein beta heavy chain. These unique features distinguish the dynein beta heavy chain from other motor protein superfamilies and may be characteristic of the dynein superfamily.
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PMID:Four ATP-binding sites in the midregion of the beta heavy chain of dynein. 183 Sep 24

Movement of membrane-bounded organelles to intracellular destinations requires properly oriented microtubules and force-generating enzymes, such as the microtubule-stimulated ATPase kinesin. Kinesin is a heterotetramer with two heavy chain (approximately 124-kDa) and two light chain (approximately 64-kDa) subunits. Kinesin heavy chains contain both ATP- and microtubule-binding domains and are capable of force generation in vitro. Functions of the light chains are undetermined, although evidence suggests they interact with membrane surfaces. We have used molecular genetic approaches to dissect the kinesin light chain structure. Three distinct kinesin light chain cDNAs were cloned and sequenced from rat brain, and they were found to result from alternative splicing of a single gene. Polypeptides encoded by these cDNAs are identical except for their carboxyl ends. Synthesis of multiple light chains, differing from one another in primary structure, could provide a means of generating multiple, functionally specialized forms of the kinesin holoenzyme.
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PMID:Molecular genetics of kinesin light chains: generation of isoforms by alternative splicing. 194 31

We report the cDNA sequence of the squid kinesin heavy chain and compared the predicted amino acid sequence with that of the Drosophila heavy chain as reported by Yang, J.T., Laymon, R.A., and Goldstein, L.S. B. (1989) Cell 56, 879-889). We compared the two kinesin sequences with regard to the predicted physicochemical parameters of hydrophobicity, charge, and propensities of the secondary conformations. A comparison of the sequences from the two species reveals the head, stalk, and tail domains because a reduced degree of conservation demarcates the stalk. The charge profile indicates that the head region is nearly neutral, the stalk region acidic, and the tail is basic. The Fourier transform analysis of the hydrophobic profile of the stalk shows predominant peaks at 1/3.5 and 1/2.3, which are indexed as the second and third orders of the period 7 residue. As in the Drosophila sequence, the rod domain is divided into an amino and a carboxyl subdomain by a predicted hinge region. We show that the disposition of hydrophobic residues is distinct in these two subdomains. In particular, the heptad repeat is more regular in the amino-terminal rod domain than in the carboxyl-terminal rod domain. The tail region is positively charged, a feature that is consistent with the known electrostatic interaction between the heavy chain and negatively charged surfaces such as glass coverslips and latex beads. Three monoclonal antibodies to the kinesin heavy chain have been mapped to a region within the carboxyl terminus of the stalk.
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PMID:The primary structure and analysis of the squid kinesin heavy chain. 213 56


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