Mechanism of dynein targeting, anchorage and activation at microtubule plus-ends
Final Report Abstract
The project started under the assumption dynein is inactivated upon arrival at microtubule plus‐ends and that kinesin‐delivered cargo activates the motor for retrograde transport. At the start of the project this was indeed the most likely scenario and favoured by many scientific groups worldwide. The outcome of this project has changed our view of dynein regulation. Instead of deterministic control by regulators it seems that stochastic processes are of high importance. This finding very nicely adds experimental evidence to the current paradigm shift, as it argues that stochastic motor behaviour is of high importance. Deterministic regulators may exert a higher order control and fine‐tune the system too make it more efficient (e.g. by capturing dynein motors at plus‐ends to increase the dynein number at microtubule ends). Thus, this piece of research has changed our approaches to motor function in bi‐directional motility of organelles. As this is a fundamental process is key for a broad spectrum of biological processes, ranging from plant infection by pathogenic fungi to brain development and function, we consider this project very successful.
Publications
- (2010). Queuing induced by bidirectional motor motion at the end of a microtubule. Phys. Rev. E, 82, 051907
Ashwin, P., Lin, C. & Steinberg, G.
- (2010). The myosin‐motor domain of fungal chitin synthase V is dispensable for vesicle motility but required for virulence of the maize pathogen Ustilago maydis. Plant Cell, 22, 2476‐2494
Treitschke, S., Doehlemann, G., Schuster, M. & Steinberg, G.
- (2011). Kinesin‐3 and dynein cooperate in long‐range retrograde endosome motility along a nonuniform microtubule array. Mol Biol Cell, 22, 3645‐3657
Schuster, M., Treitschke, S., Molloy, J., Kilaru, S., Harmer, N. & Steinberg, G.
- (2011). Myosin‐5, kinesin‐1 and myosin‐17 cooperate in secretion of fungal chitin synthase. EMBO J., Epub.
Schuster, M, Treitschke, S., Molloy, J., Kilaru, S., Harmer, N.J. & Steinberg, G.
- (2011). Stochastic and controlled dynein accumulation prevents kinesin3‐delivered endosomes from falling off at the microtubule plus‐ends. EMBO J., 30, 652‐664
Schuster, M., Kilaru, S, Ashwin, P., Lin, C., Severs, N. & Steinberg, G.
- (2011). Transient stochastic binding of dynein controls bidirectional long‐range motility of early endosomes. PNAS, 108, 3618‐3622
Schuster, M., Lipowsky, R., Assmann, M.‐A., Lenz, P. & Steinberg, G.
