Molecular Characterization of a Cytoplasmic Dynein from Dictyostelium |
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Authors: | MICHAEL P. KOONCE PAULA M. GRISSOM MARY LYON THERESA POPE J. RICHARD McINTOSH |
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Affiliation: | Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Empire State Plaza, P.O. Box 509 Albany, New York 12201-0509.;Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309 |
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Abstract: | Cytoplasmic dynein is a high molecular weight, microtubule-based mechanochemical ATPase that is believed to provide motive force for a number of intracellular motilities, including transport of membrane-bound organelles. Cytoplasmic dynein also localizes to the mitotic spindles of some organisms and to the kinetochore regions of some condensed chromosomes, where it may play an active role in spindle assembly, spindle position, and/or chromosome movement during cell division. Despite active research efforts from a number of laboratories, little detail is yet available about dynein-based cellular activities. This paper describes our efforts to characterize cytoplasmic dynein from Dictyostelium and to use this protist as a molecular genetic factory to probe structure-function relationships of this molecule. |
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