Ensemble and single-molecule dynamics of IFT dynein in Caenorhabditis elegans cilia

Jona Mijalkovic, Bram Prevo, Felix Oswald, Pierre Mangeol and Erwin J. G. Peterman ()
Additional contact information
Jona Mijalkovic: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Bram Prevo: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Felix Oswald: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Pierre Mangeol: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Erwin J. G. Peterman: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Cytoplasmic dyneins drive microtubule-based, minus-end directed transport in eukaryotic cells. Whereas cytoplasmic dynein 1 has been widely studied, IFT dynein has received far less attention. Here, we use fluorescence microscopy of labelled motors in living Caenorhabditis elegans to investigate IFT-dynein motility at the ensemble and single-molecule level. We find that while the kinesin composition of motor ensembles varies along the track, the amount of dynein remains relatively constant. Remarkably, this does not result in directionality changes of cargo along the track, as has been reported for other opposite-polarity, tug-of-war motility systems. At the single-molecule level, IFT-dynein trajectories reveal unexpected dynamics, including diffusion at the base, and pausing and directional switches along the cilium. Stochastic simulations show that the ensemble IFT-dynein distribution depends upon the probability of single-motor directional switches. Our results provide quantitative insight into IFT-dynein dynamics in vivo, shedding light on the complex functioning of dynein motors in general.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14591 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms14591

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14591

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().