The mitotic kinesin-14 Ncd drives directional microtubule-microtubule sliding
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
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.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 717-723 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Nature cell biology |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 6 |
Publication status | Published - 2009 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
Externally published | Yes |
External IDs
PubMed | 19430467 |
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ORCID | /0000-0002-0750-8515/work/142235570 |