Contact: Dr. Andreas Battenberg
battenberg@zv.tum.de
49-892-891-0510
Technische Universitaet Muenchen

2 Kinesin Motors Moving along a Microtubule

Caption: Biophysicists of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and the Ludwig Maximillians Universitaet Muenchen have discovered why some of these transporters can, like cars on a multi-lane motorway, change lanes: The heads of one kinesin (red) have a longer range than the other (blue) which allows "lane change" between the individual fibers (protofilaments) of the microtubule and results in a spiraling movement of the motor on the microtubule. A shorter range of the heads results in a straight movement of the motor.

Credit: Melanie Brunnbauer /TU Muenchen

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