Life's Smallest Motor, Cargo Carrier of the Cells, Moves Like a Seesaw

[steven johnson]

The delineation of one of the smallest biochemical machines in the cell that transports chromosomes and vesicles throughout the cell has finally been detailed.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 19, 2010) — Life's smallest motor -- a protein that shuttles cargo within cells and helps cells divide -- does so by rocking up and down like a seesaw, according to research conducted by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Brandeis University.

The researchers created high-resolution snapshots of a protein motor, called kinesin, as it walked along a microtubule, which are tube-shaped structures that form a cell's "skeleton." The result is the closest look yet at the structural changes kinesin proteins undergo as they ferry molecules within cells.

The first-ever glimpse of kinesin's seesaw motion offers key insights into one of life's most fundamental processes. Fueled by an energy-giving compound called ATP, kinesin proteins motor along microtubules like trains on a railroad track, towing cargo to various locations within cells and assisting in cell division. Microtubules are a cylindrical weave of proteins found throughout cells that serve as cellular scaffolding.

In addition to further elucidating a key biological process, Downing and Sindelar's research may inform the development of disease-fighting drugs. One of kinesin's main jobs is moving chromosomes apart during cell division. Anything that blocks this process will lead to cell death, which is the basis of several cancer therapies such as taxol.

Life's Smallest Motor, Cargo Carrier of the Cells, Moves Like a Seesaw

[Beartracks]

1. It WALKS? That is pretty amazing. n/t

[Psephos]

2. Harvard made a superb (and accurate) animation of intracellular machinery a few years back...

...here it is.

You can see how the kinesin "walks" along microtubules, transporting a vesicle, at just shy of the halfway point in the vid.

http://multimedia.mcb.harvard.edu/anim_innerlife_hi.html

[AlecBGreen]

3. watch this!

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_bolinsky_animates_a_cell.html

skip to 6:40.... @ one point I found the full video the man is presenting but lost it.... I think its in the nether regions of YouTube somewhere...