Strain through the neck linker ensures processive runs: a DNA-kinesin hybrid nanomachine study.

ABSTRACT: The motor protein kinesin has two heads and walks along microtubules processively using energy derived from ATP. However, how kinesin heads are coordinated to generate processive movement remains elusive. Here we created a hybrid nanomachine (DNA-kinesin) using DNA as the skeletal structure and kinesin as the functional module. Single molecule imaging of DNA-kinesin hybrid allowed us to evaluate the effects of both connect position of the heads (N, C-terminal or Mid position) and sub-nanometer changes in the distance between the two heads on motility. Our results show that although the native structure of kinesin is not essential for processive movement, it is the most efficient. Furthermore, forward bias by the power stroke of the neck linker, a 13-amino-acid chain positioned at the C-ter

SUBMITTER: Miyazono Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2775897 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature