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Myosin IXb is a single-headed minus-end-directed processive motor

Nature Cell Biology volume 4, pages 302–306 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Myosin is an actin-based molecular motor that constitutes a diverse superfamily1,2. In contrast to conventional myosin, which binds to actin for only a short time during cross-bridge cycling, recent studies have demonstrated that class V myosin moves along actin filaments for a long distance without dissociating3,4. This would make it suitable for supporting cargo movement in cells. Because myosin V has a two-headed structure with an expanded neck domain, it has been postulated to 'walk' along the 36-nm helical repeat of the actin filament, with one head attached to the actin and leading the other head to the neighbouring helical pitch5. Here, we report that myosin IXb, a single-headed myosin, moves processively on actin filaments. Furthermore, we found that myosin IXb is a minus-end-directed motor. In addition to class VI myosin, this is the first myosin superfamily member identified that moves in the reverse direction6. The processive movement of the single-headed myosin IXb cannot be explained by a 'hand-over-hand' mechanism. This suggests that an alternative mechanism must be operating for the processive movement of single-headed myosin IXb.

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Figure 1: Structure of myosin IXb.
Figure 2: Processive movement of myosin IXb.
Figure 3: Actin filament movement with a very low surface density of myosin IXb.
Figure 4: Direction of myosin IXb movement.

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Acknowledgements

We thank K. Homma for his technical advice and valuable discussion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, 01655-0127, MA, USA

    Akira Inoue, Junya Saito, Reiko Ikebe & Mitsuo Ikebe

Authors
  1. Akira Inoue
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  2. Junya Saito
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  3. Reiko Ikebe
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  4. Mitsuo Ikebe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mitsuo Ikebe.

Supplementary information

Movie 1

Video clips of Fig. 2b. Playback speed and scale are shown in the upper left and the lower left, respectively. (MOV 2806 kb)

Movie 2

Video clips of Fig. 3. Playback speed and scale are shown in the upper left and the lower left, respectively. (MOV 421 kb)

Movie 3

Video clips of Fig. 4a. Playback speed and scale are shown in the upper left and the lower left, respectively. (MOV 1887 kb)

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Inoue, A., Saito, J., Ikebe, R. et al. Myosin IXb is a single-headed minus-end-directed processive motor. Nat Cell Biol 4, 302–306 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb774

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