Microtubule dynamics influence the retrograde biased motility of kinesin-4 motor teams in neuronal dendrites.

ABSTRACT: Microtubules establish the directionality of intracellular transport by kinesins and dynein through polarized assembly, but it remains unclear how directed transport occurs along microtubules organized with mixed polarity. We investigated the ability of the plus end-directed kinesin-4 motor KIF21B to navigate mixed polarity microtubules in mammalian dendrites. Reconstitution assays with recombinant KIF21B and engineered microtubule bundles or extracted neuronal cytoskeletons indicate that nucleotide-independent microtubule-binding regions of KIF21B modulate microtubule dynamics and promote directional switching on antiparallel microtubules. Optogenetic recruitment of KIF21B to organelles in live neurons induces unidirectional transport in axons but bidirectional transport with a net retrog

SUBMITTER: Masucci EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9265162 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature