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Updated: Jul 3, 2026
07:25
Use of Stopped-Flow Fluorescence and Labeled Nucleotides to Analyze the ATP Turnover Cycle of Kinesins
Published on: October 17, 2014
Structural frameworks for considering microbial protein- and nucleic acid-dependent motor ATPases
Nathan D Thomsen1, James M Berger
1Quantitative Biology Institute and Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, 374D Stanley Hall #3220, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Molecular Microbiology
|July 24, 2008
Summary
Molecular motors like ATPases use chemical energy to drive cellular processes. Recent structural data reveals how these enzymes, including ASCE P-loop NTPases, GHL proteins, actin-fold enzymes, and chaperonins, generate force and movement.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Structural Biology
Background:
- Cellular processes rely on enzymes converting chemical energy to drive unfavorable reactions.
- ATPases exemplify energy conversion, using nucleotide turnover to manipulate biological polymers.
- Four major superfamilies of ATP-dependent protein/nucleic acid motors exist across all life domains.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent advances in understanding ATP-dependent molecular motors.
- To illustrate the mechanisms by which these motors couple ATP turnover to conformational changes.
- To explain how these motors facilitate the movement and rearrangement of biological macromolecules.
Main Methods:
- Review of recent structural data on ATP-dependent motors.
- Analysis of mechanisms linking nucleotide turnover to conformational changes.
- Focus on four superfamilies: ASCE P-loop NTPases, GHL proteins, actin-fold enzymes, and chaperonins.
Main Results:
- Emergence of significant structural data explaining motor function.
- Insights into how ATP binding and hydrolysis generate motion and force.
- Understanding of conserved mechanisms across unrelated superfamilies.
Conclusions:
- ATP-dependent motors utilize conserved mechanisms for energy transduction.
- Structural biology is key to deciphering the function of these essential cellular machines.
- These motors play critical roles in protein and nucleic acid dynamics.
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