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Article
The impacts of molecular motor traffic jams
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (2012)
  • Jennifer Ross, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Abstract
Much of a modern person's day is spent trying to get from point A to point B. So, too, in the cell, much time and energy is expended on shuttling organelles, protein complexes, and mRNA, called “cargos,” from point A to point B. We know that vehicle traffic slows down when roads get jammed with high-volume congestion. The traffic analogy begs the question: Do cellular highways get jammed? This is the question being probed by Leduc et al. in PNAS (1). Efficient cellular transport is made along “cellular highways” in the form of a cytoskeletal network of proteinacous filaments called microtubules (2, 3). The microtubules crisscross the cell in a radial array to connect distal regions. The cell has “motor proteins” to traverse the highways and carry cargos. Motor proteins are nanoscale machines made from two polypeptide chains folded and wound together (Fig. 1A). These protein dimers have enzymatic feet (called “motor heads”) that bind to the microtubule filament and use ATP to cause alternative stepping in a hand-over-hand style (Fig. 1A) (4, 5). Numerous biophysical studies have discovered a number of amazing properties about motor proteins, including their step size, their maximum force, their velocity, and the “run length” for how far single motors can run (4, 6–9).
Disciplines
Publication Date
April, 2012
Publisher Statement
Doi:10.1073/pnas.1203542109
Citation Information
Jennifer Ross. "The impacts of molecular motor traffic jams" Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA Vol. 109 Iss. 16 (2012)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jennifer_ross/3/