A unique mechanism for the processive movement of single-headed myosin-IX

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2006 May 19;343(4):1159-64. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2006.03.057.

Abstract

It has been puzzled that in spite of its single-headed structure, myosin-IX shows the typical character of processive motor in multi-molecule in vitro motility assay, because this cannot be explained by hand-over-hand mechanism of the two-headed processive myosins. Here, we show direct evidence of the processive movement of myosin-IX using two different single molecule techniques. Using optical trap nanometry, we found that myosin-IX takes several large ( approximately 20nm) steps before detaching from an actin filament. Furthermore, we directly visualized the single myosin-IX molecules moving on actin filaments for several hundred nanometers without dissociating from actin filament. Since myosin-IX processively moves without anchoring the neck domain, the result suggests that the neck tilting is not involved for the processive movement of myosin-IX. We propose that the myosin-IX head moves processively along an actin filament like an inchworm via a unique long and positively charged insertion in the loop 2 region of the head.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Actin Cytoskeleton / chemistry
  • Adenosine Diphosphate / chemistry
  • Animals
  • Humans
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Models, Biological
  • Molecular Motor Proteins / chemistry*
  • Myosins / chemistry*
  • Protein Conformation
  • Rabbits
  • Recombinant Proteins / chemistry

Substances

  • Molecular Motor Proteins
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • myosin IXB
  • Adenosine Diphosphate
  • Myosins