Regulation of Directionality of Cargo Transport by Molecular Motors

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

In this project the PI will study the mechanisms by which opposite polarity motors communicate and how their function is regulated inside living cells. The standard genetic and biochemical assays will be combined with high speed imaging as well as quantitative optical trap measurement of motor forces in living Drosophila embryos and in purified systems from different genetic backgrounds. This research project is motivated by preliminary data showing that purified cargos carry opposite polarity motors that engage in a stalemate in vitro and do not move long distances in the absence of cyotsolic extracts. The central hypothesis is that regulatory proteins coordinate bidirectional transport and that force generation in opposite directions alone does not account for the observed bidirectionality. The rationale for these studies is that the identification of the mechanisms by which motors of opposite polarity cooperate would lead to a fundamental framework for eventual understanding of how failure of these mechanisms is linked to disease. The principal investigator has, and will continue to disseminate the findings of his research program among the general public through high school student internships in his laboratory and through lectures to the students and their teachers in Austin high schools.