Function of unconventional myosins as molecular motors: Mechanics and regulation (Funktion ungewöhnlicher Myosine als molekulare Motoren: Mechanik und Regulierung)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thierry Soldati
• Subject Area: Biophysics
• Term: from 1999 to 2002
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5175394

The cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells is a very complex milieu and unraveling how its unique cytoarchitecture is achieved and maintained is a central theme of our research. The importance of filamentous-actin-directed, myosin-powered cargo transport was only recently realized, and direct connections of myosins to a variety of cellular tasks, such as cytokinesis, phagocytosis, endocytosis, polarized secretion and exocytosis, axonal transport etc., are slowly emerging. We investigate these processes in Dictyostelium discoideum, a powerful, genetically and biochemically tractable model organism. We identified two novel myosins, myoK and myoM, and completed their basic characterization. Future efforts include the identification of proteins that transduce the force of the myosin stroke to their cargo and govern the regulation of their activity. The molecular details of the mechanochemical transduction of energy by the muscle myosin and kinesins are currently being deciphered with unprecedented precision. Due to the very high degree of homology it is widely assumed that unconventional myosins function in a way very similar to myosin II. Nevertheless, in order to better understand the physiological importance of these molecules, we want to test experimentally all aspects of this hypothesis. The strategies presented here warrant an efficient dissection of myosin-powered movement and will significantly add to the understanding of intracellular trafficking and the regulation of cytoskeleton function.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1068: Molekulare Motoren