spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Endow, S. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Endow, S. A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Journal of Cell Science, Vol 113, Issue 8 1311-1318, Copyright © 2000 by Company of Biologists

COMMENTARIES

Molecular motors--a paradigm for mutant analysis

SA Endow
Department of Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. endow@duke.edu

Molecular motors perform essential functions in the cell and have the potential to provide insights into the basis of many important processes. A unique property of molecular motors is their ability to convert energy from ATP hydrolysis into work, enabling the motors to bind to and move along cytoskeletal filaments. The mechanism of energy conversion by molecular motors is not yet understood and may lead to the discovery of new biophysical principles. Mutant analysis could provide valuable information, but it is not obvious how to obtain mutants that are informative for study. The analysis presented here points out several strategies for obtaining mutants by selection from molecular or genetic screens, or by rational design. Mutants that are expected to provide important information about the motor mechanism include ATPase mutants, which interfere with the nucleotide hydrolysis cycle, and uncoupling mutants, which unlink basic motor activities and reveal their interdependence. Natural variants can also be exploited to provide unexpected information about motor function. This general approach to uncovering protein function by analysis of informative mutants is applicable not only to molecular motors, but to other proteins of interest.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2000