Skip to main content
Log in

Modeling transport of a pulse of radiolabeled organelles in a Drosophila unipolar motor neuron

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Biological Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Based on published experimental evidence, this paper develops a model for the transport of a pulse of radiolabeled organelles in a unipolar Drosophila motor neuron. In particular, since published data indicate that no microtubules (MTs) travel from the primary neurite into the dendrite, it is investigated how organelles are transported into the dendrite. Analytical solutions describing concentrations of kinesin- and dynein-driven organelles in the primary neurite, axon, and dendrite are obtained. The effects of increasing the width of the pulse and increasing the rate of organelle transition rate from the kinesin-driven to the dynein-driven state are investigated.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bean, A.J. (ed.): Protein Trafficking in Neurons. Elsevier/Academic, Amsterdam (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Stokin, G.B., Lillo, C., Falzone, T.L., Brusch, R.G., Rockenstein, E., Mount, S.L., Raman, R., Davies, P., Masliah, E., Williams, D.S., Goldstein, L.S.B.: Axonopathy and transport deficits early in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. Science 307, 1282–1288 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Goldstein, L.S.B., Yang, Z.H.: Microtubule-based transport systems in neurons: the roles of kinesins and dyneins. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 23, 39–71 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Gouwens, N.W., Wilson, R.I.: Signal propagation in Drosophila central neurons. J. Neurosci. 29, 6239–6249 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Tuthill, J.C.: Lessons from a compartmental model of a Drosophila neuron. J. Neurosci. 29, 12033–12034 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Rolls, M.M., Satoh, D., Clyne, P.J., Henner, A.L., Uemura, T., Doe, C.Q.: Polarity and intracellular compartmentalization of Drosophila neurons. Neural Dev. 2, 7 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Stone, M.C., Roegiers, F., Rolls, M.M.: Microtubules have opposite orientation in axons and dendrites of Drosophila neurons. Mol. Biol. Cell 19, 4122–4129 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Baas, P.W., Lin, S.: Hooks and comets: the story of microtubule polarity orientation in the neuron. Developmental Neurobiology 71, 403–418 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Baas, P.W., Deitch, J.S., Black, M.M., Banker, G.A.: Polarity orientation of microtubules in hippocampal neurons: Uniformity in the axon and nonuniformity in the dendrite. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85, 8335–8339 (1988)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Stepanova, T., Slemmer, J., Hoogenraad, C.C., Lansbergen, G., Dortland, B., De Zeeuw, C.I., Grosveld, F., van Cappellen, G., Akhmanova, A., Galjart, N.: Visualization of microtubule growth in cultured neurons via the use of EB3-GFP (end-binding protein 3-green fluorescent protein). J. Neurosci. 23, 2655–2664 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Stone, M.C., Nguyen, M.M., Tao, J., Allender, D.L., Rolls, M.M.: Global up-regulation of microtubule dynamics and polarity reversal during regeneration of an axon from a dendrite. Mol. Biol. Cell 21, 767–777 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Alberts, B., Johnson, A., Lewis, J., Raff, M., Roberts, K., Walter, P.: In: Molecular Biology of the Cell, 5th edn. Garland Science, New York (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Rolls, M.M.: Neuronal polarity in Drosophila: sorting out axons and dendrites. Developmental Neurobiology 71, 419–429 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Kuznetsov, A.V.: Modelling active transport in Drosophila unipolar motor neurons. Comput. Methods Biomech. Biomed. Eng. 14, 1117–1131 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Janulevicius, A., van Pelt, J., van Ooyen, A.: Compartment volume influences microtubule dynamic instability: a model study. Biophys. J. 90, 788–798 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Zakharenko, S., Popov, S.: Dynamics of axonal microtubules regulate the topology of new membrane insertion into the growing neurites. J. Cell Biol. 143, 1077–1086 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Smith, D.A., Simmons, R.M.: Models of motor-assisted transport of intracellular particles. Biophys. J. 80, 45–68 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Carter, N.J., Cross, R.A.: Mechanics of the kinesin step. Nature 435, 308–312 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Vale, R.D., Funatsu, T., Pierce, D.W., Romberg, L., Harada, Y., Yanagida, T.: Direct observation of single kinesin molecules moving along microtubules. Nature 380, 451–453 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. King, S.J., Schroer, T.A.: Dynactin increases the processivity of the cytoplasmic dynein motor. Nat. Cell Biol. 2, 20–24 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Toba, S., Watanabe, T.M., Yamaguchi-Okimoto, L., Toyoshima, Y.Y., Higuchi, H.: Overlapping hand-over-hand mechanism of single molecular motility of cytoplasmic dynein. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103, 5741–5745 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Kuznetsov, A.V.: Modeling of organelle entry in an axon and dendrite. J. Mech. Med. Biol. (2012, in press). doi:10.1142/S0219519412500261

    Google Scholar 

  23. Abramowitz, M., Stegun, I.A. (eds.): Handbook of Mathematical Functions, with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables. Dover Publications, Mineola (1965)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Kuznetsov, A.V.: Modelling of axonal cargo rerouting in a dendrite. Math. Med. Biol. (2012, in press). doi:10.1093/imammb/dqs021

    Google Scholar 

  25. Jung, P., Brown, A.: Modeling the slowing of neurofilament transport along the mouse sciatic nerve. Phys. Biol. 6, 046002 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Schnitzer, M.J., Visscher, K., Block, S.M.: Force production by single kinesin motors. Nat. Cell Biol. 2, 718–723 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. V. Kuznetsov.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kuznetsov, A.V. Modeling transport of a pulse of radiolabeled organelles in a Drosophila unipolar motor neuron. J Biol Phys 39, 145–158 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10867-012-9292-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10867-012-9292-6

Keywords

Navigation