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The major motor proteins that interact with microtubules are kinesin, which usually moves toward the (+) end of the microtubule, and dynein, which moves toward the (−) end. Dynein is composed of two identical heavy chains, which make up two large globular head domains, and a variable number of intermediate and light chains.
The kinesin dimer (red) attaches to, and moves along, microtubules (blue and green). Animation of kinesin "walking" on a microtubule. A kinesin is a protein complex belonging to a class of motor proteins found in eukaryotic cells.
Animal cells (and some filamentous fungi are thought to rely upon the microtubule cytoskeleton and associated motor proteins. [ citation needed ] Although plants, algae and fungi transport depends on myosins , which move along the actin cytoskeleton, certain organelles can move along microtubules in plant cells.
Myosins are a superfamily of actin motor proteins that convert chemical energy in the form of ATP to mechanical energy, thus generating force and movement. The first identified myosin, myosin II, is responsible for generating muscle contraction. Myosin II is an elongated protein that is formed from two heavy chains with motor heads and two ...
Micrograph showing condensed chromosomes in blue, kinetochores in pink, and microtubules in green during metaphase of mitosis. In cell biology, the spindle apparatus is the cytoskeletal structure of eukaryotic cells that forms during cell division to separate sister chromatids between daughter cells.
There are many other proteins which affect microtubule behavior, such as catastrophin, which destabilizes microtubules, katanin, which severs them, and a number of motor proteins that transport vesicles along them. Certain motor proteins were originally designated as MAPs before it was found that they utilized ATP hydrolysis to transport cargo.
The microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) is a structure found in eukaryotic cells from which microtubules emerge. MTOCs have two main functions: the organization of eukaryotic flagella and cilia and the organization of the mitotic and meiotic spindle apparatus, which separate the chromosomes during cell division.
Axonal transport, also called axoplasmic transport or axoplasmic flow, is a cellular process responsible for movement of mitochondria, lipids, synaptic vesicles, proteins, and other organelles to and from a neuron's cell body, through the cytoplasm of its axon called the axoplasm. [1]