A kinetoplastid-specific kinesin is required for cytokinesis and for maintenance of cell morphology in Trypanosoma brucei.

ABSTRACT: Kinesins are motor-based transport proteins that play diverse roles in various cellular processes. The trypanosome genome lacks the homologues of many conserved mitotic kinesins, but encodes a number of trypanosome-specific kinesins with unknown function. Here, we report the biochemical and functional characterization of TbKIN-C, a trypanosome-specific kinesin, which was initially identified through an RNAi screen for cytokinesis genes in T. brucei. TbKIN-C possesses in vitro ATPase activity and associates with cytoskeletal tubulin microtubules in vivo. It is distributed throughout the cytoskeleton with a focal enrichment at the posterior end of the cell during early cell cycle stages. RNAi of TbKIN-C resulted in distorted cell shape with an elongated posterior filled with tyrosinated tubu

SUBMITTER: Hu L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3262082 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature