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Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Visualizing and Analyzing Intracellular Transport of Organelles and Other Cargos in Astrocytes
Published on: August 28, 2019
The cytoplasmic dynein transport machinery and its many cargoes
Samara L Reck-Peterson1,2, William B Redwine3,4, Ronald D Vale5
1Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA. sreckpeterson@ucsd.edu.
Abstract:
Cytoplasmic dynein 1 is an important microtubule-based motor in many eukaryotic cells. Dynein has critical roles both in interphase and during cell division. Here, we focus on interphase cargoes of dynein, which include membrane-bound organelles, RNAs, protein complexes and viruses. A central challenge in the field is to understand how a single motor can transport such a diverse array of cargoes and how this process is regulated. The molecular basis by which each cargo is linked to dynein and its cofactor dynactin has started to emerge. Of particular importance for this process is a set of coiled-coil proteins - activating adaptors - that both recruit dynein-dynactin to their cargoes and activate dynein motility.
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