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Reversing a ‘backwards’ motor
Author(s) -
Endow Sharyn A.,
Fletterick Robert J.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-1878(199802)20:2<108::aid-bies2>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - kinesin , microtubule , motor protein , polarity (international relations) , molecular motor , directionality , motor activity , motor function , movement (music) , domain (mathematical analysis) , biology , neuroscience , physics , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , medicine , physical medicine and rehabilitation , mathematics , cell , mathematical analysis , endocrinology , acoustics
Ncd, a kinesin‐related microtubule motor protein that moves the ‘wrong’ way on microtubules, towards the minus ends, has now been made to move like kinesin, towards plus ends, by fusing regions from outside the kinesin motor domain to the Ncd motor. 1,2 Since it is the kinesin motor domain that binds to and moves on the microtubule, the finding that regions outside the motor domain can confer directionality of Ncd movement is remarkable—it implies a structural basis for motor polarity. Here we consider this finding from a structural point of view and discuss the implications for motor function and evolution. BioEssays 20:108–112, 1998. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.