What are the functions of kinesin?

✍ Scribed by Michael P. Sheetz

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 530 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0265-9247
• DOI: 10.1002/bies.950070406

✦ Synopsis

A variety of intracellular motile processes involve the directed movement ofparticles along microtubules, including organelle transport, endoplasmic reticulum extension, and movements in mitosis. Recently, a microtubule-dependent motor protein, kinesin, was pur$ed and was found to be present in a soluble form in a wide variety of organisms and tissues. Because microtubules provide polar pathways over long distances within cells, kinesin and the motors which move in the opposite direction to kinesin on microtubules provide a mechanism for directed commun ica t ions with in cells. The possible roles of kinesin and other soluble microtubule-dependent motors in intracellular motile functions are discussed in the light of recent studies of the reconstitution of organelle motility with isolated com-

ponen ts .