Abstract
When video microscopy was first used to study fast axonal transport in isolated axoplasm from squid giant axons, a torrent of membrane traffic was seen to move in both directions. Images of membrane bounded organelles (MBOs) moving along individual microtubules (MTs) in axoplasm opened the way for characterization of the microscopic properties of fast axonal transport and led to the characterization of two molecular motors involved in fast axonal transport. The pharmacology of MBO movement ruled out previously identified molecular motors and a biochemical dissection of fast axonal transport in axoplasm demonstrated the existence of a new class of molecular motors. Subsequently, the polypeptides comprising a new class of molecular motor, kinesin, were discovered initiating a new era in the study of molecular motors and intracellular motility.The effects of ATP analogues on fast axonal transport led to dicovery of kinesin. When the nonhydrolyzable ATP analogue, adenylyl 5′-imidodiphosphate (AMP-PNP), was perfused into isolated axoplasm, all MBOs moving in both anterograde and retrograde directions stopped moving and remained attached to MTs. Unlike the effects of AMP-PNP on myosin and dynein, inhibition by AMP-PNP was rapid even in the presence of equimolar ATP, but was reversed by excess ATP.
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Schedule a callMore From: Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America
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