Motor guidance by long-range communication through the microtubule highway

Abstract

Coupling of motor proteins within arrays drives muscle contraction, flagellar beating, chromosome segregation, and other biological processes. Current models of motor coupling invoke either direct mechanical linkage or protein crowding, which rely on short-range motor-motor interactions. In contrast, coupling mechanisms that act at longer length scales remain largely unexplored. Here we report that microtubules can physically couple motor movement in the absence of short-range interactions. The human kinesin-4 Kif4A changes the run-length and velocity of other motors on the same microtubule in the dilute binding limit, when 10-nm-sized motors are separated by microns.