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Functions Of The Arabidopsis Kinesin Superfamily Of Microtubule-Based Motor Proteins, Chuanmei Zhu, Ram Dixit
Functions Of The Arabidopsis Kinesin Superfamily Of Microtubule-Based Motor Proteins, Chuanmei Zhu, Ram Dixit
Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations
Plants possess a large number of microtubule-based kinesin motor proteins. While the kinesin-2, 3, 9, and 11 families are absent from land plants, the kinesin-7 and 14 families are greatly expanded. In addition, some kinesins are specifically present only in land plants. The distinctive inventory of plant kinesins suggests that kinesins have evolved to perform specialized functions in plants. Plants assemble unique microtubule arrays during their cell cycle, including the interphase cortical microtubule array, preprophase band, anastral spindle and phragmoplast. In this review, we explore the functions of plant kinesins from a microtubule array viewpoint, focusing mainly on Arabidopsis kinesins. …
Single-Molecule Analysis Of The Microtubule Cross-Linking Protein Map65-1 Reveals A Molecular Mechanism For Contact-Angle-Dependent Microtubule Bundling, Amanda Tulin, Sheri Mcclerklin, Yue Huang, Ram Dixit
Single-Molecule Analysis Of The Microtubule Cross-Linking Protein Map65-1 Reveals A Molecular Mechanism For Contact-Angle-Dependent Microtubule Bundling, Amanda Tulin, Sheri Mcclerklin, Yue Huang, Ram Dixit
Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations
Bundling of microtubules (MTs) is critical for the formation of complex MT arrays. In land plants, the interphase cortical MTs form bundles specifically following shallow-angle encounters between them. To investigate how cells select particular MT contact angles for bundling, we used an in vitro reconstitution approach consisting of dynamic MTs and the MT-cross-linking protein MAP65-1. We found that MAP65-1 binds to MTs as monomers and inherently targets antiparallel MTs for bundling. Dwell-time analysis showed that the affinity of MAP65-1 for antiparallel overlapping MTs is about three times higher than its affinity for single MTs and parallel overlapping MTs. We also …