The Path to Kinesin and Beyond
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Updated: Nov 3, 2026

Identification of Kinesin-1 Cargos Using Fluorescence Microscopy
Published on: February 14, 2016
1Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Abstract:
The recognition that the components of the axon and synapse originated in the neuronal cell body and were transported to their final destinations was recognized as early as Ramon y Cajal's pioneering studies on regeneration. However, mechanisms by which this transport was accomplished remained a mystery even as information accumulated about the rates and the composition of material being transported. The challenge was a lack of knowledge about molecular motors. In the early 1980's, advances in live cell imaging in combination with a novel model for study of vesicle transport in the axon led to the discovery of a new family of molecular motors, the kinesins.
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