Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Structure of a genetically engineered molecular motor.

W Kliche1, S Fujita-Becker, M Kollmar

  • 1Department of Biophysics, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstrasse 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. kull@mpimf-heidelberg.mpg.de

The EMBO Journal
|February 28, 2001
PubMed
Summary

Researchers engineered a novel single-polypeptide molecular motor by combining myosin II and alpha-actinin. This artificial motor exhibits defined lever arm lengths and specific motile properties, offering insights into molecular motor function.

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

Pink-beam serial crystallography.

Nature communications·2017
Same author

Erratum to: Genomic innovations, transcriptional plasticity and gene loss underlying the evolution and divergence of two highly polyphagous and invasive Helicoverpa pest species.

BMC biology·2017
Same author

Genomic innovations, transcriptional plasticity and gene loss underlying the evolution and divergence of two highly polyphagous and invasive Helicoverpa pest species.

BMC biology·2017
Same author

Uptake of selenium-75 by PHA-stimulated lymphocytes : Effect on glutathione peroxidase.

Biological trace element research·2013
Same author

Molecular mechanism of actomyosin-based motility.

Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS·2005
Same author

Motor proteins of the kinesin superfamily: structure and mechanism.

Essays in biochemistry·2002

Area of Science:

  • Structural biology
  • Molecular biophysics
  • Protein engineering

Background:

  • Molecular motors are ATP-dependent machines that generate force and movement along polymer tracks.
  • These motors amplify small conformational changes in nucleotide-binding regions to produce larger movements.
  • Understanding the structural basis of motor function is crucial for designing novel biomolecular machines.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To present the crystal structure of an artificial actin-based molecular motor.
  • To investigate the impact of engineered conformational amplifiers on motor properties.
  • To elucidate the structural consequences of disrupting a key salt bridge in the nucleotide-binding region.

Main Methods:

  • X-ray crystallography was used to determine the 2.8 Å resolution structure of the engineered motor.

Related Experiment Videos

  • The motor was constructed by fusing the catalytic domain of myosin II with alpha-actinin repeats 1 and 2.
  • Mutagenesis was employed to disrupt a conserved salt bridge in the nucleotide-binding region.

    • Main Results:

    • The structure reveals an artificial single-polypeptide motor with a precisely defined lever arm length (130 Å).
    • Mutation of the conserved salt bridge inhibits ATP hydrolysis activity by preventing the formation of myosin's active 'closed' conformation.
    • Alpha-actinin repeats 1 and 2 form a structure of two triple-helical bundles linked by an alpha-helix, similar to other spectrin-like repeats.

    Conclusions:

    • Genetic engineering enables the creation of single-polypeptide molecular motors with tunable motile properties.
    • The identified salt bridge is critical for myosin's catalytic activity and conformational regulation.
    • The structural fold of alpha-actinin repeats 1 and 2 is conserved within the spectrin superfamily.