Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Dept of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Room 336, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0683, USA
Abstract:
Kinesin and dynein molecular motor proteins generate the movement of a wide variety of materials in cells. Such movements are crucial for many different cellular and developmental functions, including organelle movement, localization of developmental determinants, mitosis, meiosis and possibly long-range signaling in neurons. Kinesins that control the dynamics of microtubules have also been discovered. Recent work has begun to identify processes in which defective molecular motor function can cause human disease.