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Alternate fast and slow stepping of a heterodimeric kinesin molecule

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Abstract

A conventional kinesin molecule travels continuously along a microtubule in discrete 8-nm steps. This processive movement is generally explained by models in which the two identical heads of a kinesin move in a 'hand-over-hand' manner1,2,3,4. Here, we show that a single heterodimeric kinesin molecule (in which one of the two heads is mutated in a nucleotide-binding site) exhibits fast and slow (with the dwell time at least 10 times longer than that of the fast step) 8-nm steps alternately, presumably corresponding to the displacement by the wild-type and mutant heads, respectively. Our results provide the first direct evidence for models in which the roles of the two heads alternate every 8-nm step.

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Figure 1: Time course of the displacement of a single heterodimeric kinesin molecule.
Figure 2: Dwell time analysis.

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Acknowledgements

We thank L. Amos for comments on the manuscript. This work was aided by support from the Human Frontier Science Program (H.H. and K.H.) and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (K.K.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gene Function Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, 305-8562, Ibaraki, Japan

    Kuniyoshi Kaseda & Keiko Hirose

  2. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, 305-8562, Ibaraki, Japan

    Kuniyoshi Kaseda

  3. Department of Metallurgy, Graduate School of Engineering and Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8579, Miyagi, Japan

    Hideo Higuchi

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  1. Kuniyoshi Kaseda
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  2. Hideo Higuchi
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  3. Keiko Hirose
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Correspondence to Keiko Hirose.

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Kaseda, K., Higuchi, H. & Hirose, K. Alternate fast and slow stepping of a heterodimeric kinesin molecule. Nat Cell Biol 5, 1079–1082 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1067

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