In vitro reconstitution approach for understanding the cooperative transport by molecular motors

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K18524
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biophysics
• Research Institution: National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
• Principal Investigator: Torisawa Takayuki 国立研究開発法人情報通信研究機構, 未来ICT研究所フロンティア創造総合研究室, 研究員 (60749406)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: ダイニン / キネシン / 細胞内輸送

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Intracellular transport is an essential process for living cells. In eukaryotic cells, the transport is mainly mediated by the cooperative movements of molecular motors, enzymes which convert chemical energy from ATP hydrolysis to mechanical motion, along cytoskeletal filaments, such as actin and microtubule.
In this study, it is revealed that cytoplasmic dynein, which is responsible for the retrograde transport along microtubules, achieves the unidirectional transport through the rectification of one-dimensional diffusion along microtubule.

Free Research Field

生物物理学