Myosin VI is an actin-based motor that moves backwards

Amber L. Wells, Abel W. Lin, Li-Qiong Chen, Daniel Safer, Shane M. Cain, Tama Hasson, Bridget O. Carragher, Ronald A. Milligan and H. Lee Sweeney ()
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Amber L. Wells: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Abel W. Lin: The Scripps Research Institute
Li-Qiong Chen: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Daniel Safer: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Shane M. Cain: University of California
Tama Hasson: University of California
Bridget O. Carragher: Beckman Institute, Dept. of Cell and Structural Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Ronald A. Milligan: The Scripps Research Institute
H. Lee Sweeney: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Nature, 1999, vol. 401, issue 6752, 505-508

Abstract: Abstract Myosins and kinesins are molecular motors that hydrolyse ATP to track along actin filaments and microtubules, respectively. Although the kinesin family includes motors that move towards either the plus or minus ends of microtubules1, all characterized myosin motors move towards the barbed (+) end of actin filaments2. Crystal structures of myosin II (refs 3,4,5,6) have shown that small movements within the myosin motor core are transmitted through the ‘converter domain’ to a ‘lever arm’ consisting of a light-chain-binding helix and associated light chains5,6. The lever arm further amplifies the motions of the converter domain into large directed movements3,5,6,7. Here we report that myosin VI, an unconventional myosin8,9,10,11,12, moves towards the pointed (-) end of actin. We visualized the myosin VI construct bound to actin using cryo-electron microscopy and image analysis, and found that an ADP-mediated conformational change in the domain distal to the motor, a structure likely to be the effective lever arm, is in the opposite direction to that observed for other myosins. Thus, it appears that myosin VI achieves reverse-direction movement by rotating its lever arm in the opposite direction to conventional myosin lever arm movement.

Date: 1999
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DOI: 10.1038/46835

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