We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
The mitotic kinesin-14 Ncd drives directional microtubule–microtubule sliding.
- Authors
Fink, Gero; Hajdo, Lukasz; Skowronek, Krzysztof J.; Reuther, Cordula; Kasprzak, Andrzej A.; Diez, Stefan
- Abstract
During mitosis and meiosis, the bipolar spindle facilitates chromosome segregation through microtubule sliding as well as microtubule growth and shrinkage. Kinesin-14, one of the motors involved, causes spindle collapse in the absence of kinesin-5 (Refs 2, 3), participates in spindle assembly and modulates spindle length. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these activities are not known. Here, we report that Drosophila melanogaster kinesin-14 (Ncd) alone causes sliding of anti-parallel microtubules but locks together (that is, statically crosslinks) those that are parallel. Using single molecule imaging we show that Ncd diffuses along microtubules in a tail-dependent manner and switches its orientation between sliding microtubules. Our results show that kinesin-14 causes sliding and expansion of an anti-parallel microtubule array by dynamic interactions through the motor domain on the one side and the tail domain on the other. This mechanism accounts for the roles of kinesin-14 in spindle organization.
- Subjects
CELL division; MICROTUBULES; DROSOPHILA melanogaster; KINESIN; ADENOSINE triphosphatase; BIOCHEMISTRY; CYTOLOGY; PHYSIOLOGY
- Publication
Nature Cell Biology, 2009, Vol 11, Issue 6, p717
- ISSN
1465-7392
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/ncb1877