Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Videos

Searching for kinesin's mechanical amplifier.

R D Vale¹, R Case, E Sablin

¹Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco 94143, USA. vale@phy.ucsf.edu

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences

|June 3, 2000

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Incidence of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in different membrane oxygenators: pilot in vitro experiments in commercially available coated membranes.

Journal of artificial organs : the official journal of the Japanese Society for Artificial Organs·2025

Same author

Corrigendum to "A comparison of the efficacy of trastuzumab deruxtecan in advanced HER2-positive breast cancer: active brain metastasis versus progressive extracranial disease alone": [ESMO Open 8 (2023) 102033].

ESMO open·2024

Same author

A comparison of the efficacy of trastuzumab deruxtecan in advanced HER2-positive breast cancer: active brain metastasis versus progressive extracranial disease alone.

ESMO open·2023

Same author

MR lymphangiography of lymphatic abnormalities in children and adults with Noonan syndrome.

Scientific reports·2022

Same author

SARS-CoV-2 monitoring at three sewersheds of different scales and complexity demonstrates distinctive relationships between wastewater measurements and COVID-19 case data.

The Science of the total environment·2021

Same author

Quantitative Assay of Beta-Lactam Residues in Raw Milk Using a Disc Assay Method.

Journal of food protection·2019

Kinesin motor proteins use small

Area of Science:

Molecular Biology
Biophysics

Background:

Kinesin and myosin are motor proteins with similar core structures, suggesting a common ancestor.
Kinesin lacks the myosin lever-arm domain, a key component for the power stroke.

Purpose of the Study:

To identify the mechanical element responsible for kinesin's directional motion.
To elucidate the mechanism by which kinesin couples ATP hydrolysis to movement.

Main Methods:

Comparative structural analysis of kinesin and myosin.
Mutagenesis studies on kinesin motor proteins.
Biochemical assays to study ATP hydrolysis and motor function.

Main Results:

A small region of 10-40 amino acids, termed 'neck regions', acts as the mechanical element in kinesin.

Related Experiment Videos

Neck regions are conserved and differ in plus-end and minus-end-directed kinesin motors.

Mutagenesis confirmed the neck regions' role in coupling ATP hydrolysis to directional movement.

Conclusions:

Kinesin utilizes unique neck regions to amplify conformational changes for directional movement.
Kinesin and myosin evolved distinct mechanical elements despite a shared catalytic core.
The neck region undergoes conformational changes, detaching and re-docking to drive the kinesin ATPase cycle.