Forum 03/25/2004

“Structural studies of depolymerizing KinI kinesins: Part II”

Carolyn Moores – BBSRC David Phillips Fellow, School of Crystallography, University of London

KinI kinesins depolymerize microtubules and play an essential role in controlling cellular microtubule dynamics. The KinI motor core is capable of microtubule depolymerization and does so by bending its microtubule substrate on binding ATP. However, this motor core is not an efficient depolymerizer and requires a class-specific neck sequence to achieve full depolymerization activity. We are using electron microscopy to understand how the neck sequence is involved in the KinI depolymerization mechanism.