Intracellular movement articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article
  24 April 2024 | Open Access

  IFT cargo and motors associate sequentially with IFT trains to enter cilia of C. elegans

  Intraflagellar transport is essential for the formation and function of cilia. Here, the authors use single-molecule imaging in live C. elegans to show that transport trains are formed by the sequential attachment of proteins before departing into the cilium.

  • Aniruddha Mitra
  • , Elizaveta Loseva
  •  & Erwin J. G. Peterman

• Article
  20 November 2023 | Open Access

  Vesicles driven by dynein and kinesin exhibit directional reversals without regulators

  Intracellular transport along microtubules involves runs, pauses and directional reversals. Here, D’Souza et al. mimic these dynamics in vitro using a minimal system of Dynein-Dynactin-BICD2 and Kinesin-3 on vesicles without the need for regulators.

  • Ashwin I. D’Souza
  • , Rahul Grover
  •  & Stefan Diez

• Article
  14 November 2023 | Open Access

  Long-term cargo tracking reveals intricate trafficking through active cytoskeletal networks in the crowded cellular environment

  Leveraging a label-free interferometric scattering microscope, scientists tracked numerous cargos within a crowded cellular environment. Intriguingly, cells employ effective strategies echoing human transportation systems to manage such transportation hurdles.

  • Jin-Sung Park
  • , Il-Buem Lee
  •  & Minhaeng Cho

• Article
  02 August 2023 | Open Access

  Deterministic early endosomal maturations emerge from a stochastic trigger-and-convert mechanism

  Newly formed endosomes mature into early endosomes by shedding one protein and acquiring another. Here, the authors describe a trigger-and-convert mechanism driven by endosomal collisions and fusions that govern timeliness in ensemble maturations.

  • Harrison M. York
  • , Kunaal Joshi
  •  & Senthil Arumugam

• Article
  28 July 2021 | Open Access

  Anillin propels myosin-independent constriction of actin rings

  Cytokinetic ring constriction during cell division requires actin but curiously is independent of myosin in many organisms. Here, the authors show that anillin, a protein enriched in the contractile ring, is a non-motor actin crosslinker that generates contractile force in lieu of a molecular motor.

  • Ondřej Kučera
  • , Valerie Siahaan
  •  & Zdenek Lansky

• Article
  22 May 2020 | Open Access

  Kinesin-14 motors drive a right-handed helical motion of antiparallel microtubules around each other

  Some kinesins exhibit off-axis power strokes but their impact on motility and force generation in microtubule overlaps has not been investigated so far. Here authors use a 3D in vitro motility assay and find that Ndc’s off-axis motor forces generate torque in antiparallel microtubules which causes microtubule twisting and coiling.

  • Aniruddha Mitra
  • , Laura Meißner
  •  & Stefan Diez

• Article
  18 July 2019 | Open Access

  Live cell imaging reveals 3′-UTR dependent mRNA sorting to synapses

  Asymmetric subcellular mRNA distribution is important for local translation of neuronal mRNAs. Here the authors employed MS2 live-cell imaging and showed that the reporter mRNA containing the 3’ UTR of Rgs4 shows an anterograde transport bias, dependent on neuronal activity and the protein Staufen2, and mediates sustained mRNA recruitment to synapses.

  • Karl E. Bauer
  • , Inmaculada Segura
  •  & Michael A. Kiebler

• Article
  10 April 2019 | Open Access

  Multimodal interference-based imaging of nanoscale structure and macromolecular motion uncovers UV induced cellular paroxysm

  Methods to track molecular motion in eukaryotic cells mostly rely on fluorescent labels, transfection or photobleaching. Here the authors use multimodal partial wave spectroscopy to perform label-free live cell measurements of nanoscale structure and macromolecular motion with millisecond temporal resolution.

  • Scott Gladstein
  • , Luay M. Almassalha
  •  & Vadim Backman

• Article
  16 January 2019 | Open Access

  Regulation of in vivo dynein force production by CDK5 and 14-3-3ε and KIAA0528

  Dynein plays roles in vesicular, organelle, chromosomal and nuclear transport but so far it is unclear how dynein activity in cells is regulated. Here authors study several dynein cofactors and their role in force adaptation of dynein during lipid droplet, lysosomal, and mitochondrial transport.

  • Dail E. Chapman
  • , Babu J. N. Reddy
  •  & Steven P. Gross

• Article
  20 July 2018 | Open Access

  Dissecting myosin-5B mechanosensitivity and calcium regulation at the single molecule level

  Myosin-5B is an actin-based motor important for endosome recycling, but the molecular mechanism underlying its motility remains unknown. Here authors use single molecule imaging and high-speed laser tweezers to dissect the mechanoenzymatic properties of myosin-5B, which shows processive motility with peculiar mechanosensitivity.

  • Lucia Gardini
  • , Sarah M. Heissler
  •  & Marco Capitanio

• Article
  05 March 2018 | Open Access

  Uncovering the balance of forces driving microtubule aster migration in C. elegans zygotes

  Microtubule asters are positioned precisely within cells by forces generated by molecular motors, but it is unclear how these are integrated in space and time. Here the authors perform in vivo drag measurements and genetic manipulations to determine the balance of forces that position microtubule asters in C. elegans zygotes.

  • A. De Simone
  • , A. Spahr
  •  & P. Gönczy

• Article
  15 November 2017 | Open Access

  Active diffusion and advection in Drosophila oocytes result from the interplay of actin and microtubules

  Intracellular transport is facilitated by a combination of processes including directed transport, advection and diffusion. Here the authors microscopically characterise the dynamics of the Drosophila oocyte and find distinct contributions of cytoskeletal components to advection and active diffusion.

  • Maik Drechsler
  • , Fabio Giavazzi
  •  & Isabel M. Palacios

• Article
  21 March 2017 | Open Access

  Probing cytoskeletal modulation of passive and active intracellular dynamics using nanobody-functionalized quantum dots

  Methods to probe transport dynamics within cells can shed insight into the nature of the cytoplasm. Here the authors develop a method to functionalize and deliver quantum dots intracellularly to show how the cytoskeleton influences non-equilibrium intracellular transport dynamics.

  • Eugene A. Katrukha
  • , Marina Mikhaylova
  •  & Lukas C. Kapitein

• Article
  23 February 2017 | Open Access

  Ensemble and single-molecule dynamics of IFT dynein in Caenorhabditis elegans cilia

  Cytoplasmic dynein 2 drives retrograde intraflagellar transport but little is known about its dynamics. Here the authors use fluorescence microscopy to track labelled dynein 2 inC. elegansat the single-molecule level and report diffusion at the ciliary base, and pausing and directional switches along the cilium.

  • Jona Mijalkovic
  • , Bram Prevo
  •  & Erwin J. G. Peterman