Motor proteins

Ahmet Yildiz draws our attention to work on understanding the regulation of microtubule-based motors.

Roop Mallik argues for the importance of considering the impact that membrane lipids have on motors, and the dynamics of the membrane–motor interface, in studies of cytoskeletal motors.

A powerful combination of two-colour imaging in vivo, Fourier-filtered kymography and simulations provides a high-resolution view of kinesin-2 transport dynamics in cilia. This study reveals heterotrimeric kinesin-II as an 'obstacle-course runner' and homodimeric OSM-3 (KIF17) as a 'long-distance runner', and elucidates the 'baton handoff' between these two kinesin-2 motors on the microtubule track.

Kapitein and colleagues have used an optically controlled system that couples organelles and motor proteins to study the dynamics and roles of organelle transport.

Genetically encoded and post-translationally generated variations of tubulin C-terminal tails give rise to extensive heterogeneity of the microtubule cytoskeleton. The generation of different tubulin variants in yeast now demonstrates how single amino-acid differences or post-translational modifications can modulate the behaviour of selected molecular motors.