Kinesin does not support the motility of zinc-macrotubes

Moving along a microtubule, kinesin follows a course parallel to the protofilaments; but it is not known whether kinesin binds exclusively on a single protofilament. The presence of zinc during tubulin polymerization induces sheets where neighboring protofilaments are antiparallel. If kinesin could support the motility of these zinc-sheets, then the binding site for a kinesin molecule would be limited to a single protofilament. Kamimura and Mandelkow [1992: J. Cell Biol. 118:865-75] reported that kinesin moves along zinc-sheets. We found that zinc-sheets grown under their conditions often had a microtubule-like structure along one edge. We confirmed the possibility that the motility observed by Kamimura and Mandelkow [1992: J. Cell Biol. 118:865-75] is attributed to the microtubule-like structure rather than the zinc-sheet. To resolve the question of whether kinesin can recognize an antiparallel protofilament lattice, we investigated the kinesin-mediated motility of zinc-macrotubes. At higher free zinc concentrations, zinc-sheets roll up as macrotubes, free of edges. In the presence of 10 microM taxol and 100 nM free Zn2+ at pH 6.8, the samples were shown by electron microscopy to contain only macrotubes. Under these buffer conditions, kinesin could bind strongly to axonemal doublets in the presence of AMP-PNP, and generate motility in the presence of ATP, but kinesin did not bind to nor move the macrotubes. This shows that kinesin cannot bind efficiently to nor move on the anti-parallel lattice; it is possible (though not necessary) that the groove between two parallel protofilaments is required for kinesin's motility.