Proteins travel from one end of a neuron to the other by
moving along microtubules.
«Motors that
move along microtubule tracks like cars on a highway do a lot of work in cells.
In research detailed last week in Cell, the Rockefeller team discovered some of these fastener proteins, known as non-motor microtubule associated proteins, or MAPs, experience different degrees of friction depending on the direction in which they are being
moved along a microtubule.
Not exact matches
The axoneme's movement is accomplished via rows of motor proteins called dyneins that are attached
along the
microtubules and exert force on them so the
microtubules «slide» past each other, which then causes the entire axoneme and sperm tail to bend and
move.
The team found changes in a gene encoding a previously unknown «dynein,» a protein that
moves like a railroad locomotive
along cytoskeletal fibers called
microtubules, hauling other molecules as cargo.
His group's paper in the Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical describes a new theoretical approach to study the effect of intermolecular interactions on the dynamics of motor proteins that
move along cytoskeletal filaments known as
microtubules.
Dr Stan Burgess, at the University of Leeds» School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, who led the research team, said: «Dynein has two identical motors tied together and it
moves along a molecular track called a
microtubule.
The «parts list» in these processes is similar:
Microtubules, semi-rigid tubes of protein, can serve within the cell as scaffolding, roadways, and a building material for machinery; some proteins serve as fasteners, binding and releasing other materials; and motor proteins use chemical energy to push and pull materials along microtubules, or move the microtubules
Microtubules, semi-rigid tubes of protein, can serve within the cell as scaffolding, roadways, and a building material for machinery; some proteins serve as fasteners, binding and releasing other materials; and motor proteins use chemical energy to push and pull materials
along microtubules, or move the microtubules
microtubules, or
move the
microtubulesmicrotubules themselves.