Bidirectional helical motility of cytoplasmic dynein around microtubules

Cytoplasmic dynein is a molecular motor responsible for minus-end-directed cargo transport along microtubules (MTs). Dynein motility has previously been studied on surface-immobilized MTs in vitro, which constrains the motors to move in two dimensions. In this study, we explored dynein motility in t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:eLife 2014-07, Vol.3, p.e03205-e03205
Main Authors: Can, Sinan, Dewitt, Mark A, Yildiz, Ahmet
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological Transport
Biophysics and Structural Biology
Calibration
Cell Biology
Cell division
Cytoplasm - chemistry
Cytoplasm - metabolism
Cytoskeleton
Data analysis
Dynein
Dyneins - chemistry
Dyneins - genetics
Dyneins - metabolism
Fluorescent Dyes
Gene Expression
Handedness
intracellular cargo transport
Kinesin - chemistry
Kinesin - genetics
Kinesin - metabolism
Microscopy
Microtubules
Microtubules - chemistry
Microtubules - genetics
Microtubules - metabolism
Models, Biological
molecular motor
Motility
Motion
optical trap
Quantum dots
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - chemistry
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - genetics
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - metabolism
Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - chemistry
Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - genetics
Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - metabolism
single molecule biophysics
Tubulin
Tubulin - chemistry
Tubulin - genetics
Tubulin - metabolism
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Summary:Cytoplasmic dynein is a molecular motor responsible for minus-end-directed cargo transport along microtubules (MTs). Dynein motility has previously been studied on surface-immobilized MTs in vitro, which constrains the motors to move in two dimensions. In this study, we explored dynein motility in three dimensions using an MT bridge assay. We found that dynein moves in a helical trajectory around the MT, demonstrating that it generates torque during cargo transport. Unlike other cytoskeletal motors that produce torque in a specific direction, dynein generates torque in either direction, resulting in bidirectional helical motility. Dynein has a net preference to move along a right-handed helical path, suggesting that the heads tend to bind to the closest tubulin binding site in the forward direction when taking sideways steps. This bidirectional helical motility may allow dynein to avoid roadblocks in dense cytoplasmic environments during cargo transport.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/elife.03205