Department of Physiology & Biophysics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98195-7290, United States.
Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2010 May;21(3):260-8. doi: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2010.01.018. Epub 2010 Jan 28.
Kinesins are enzymes that use the energy of ATP to perform mechanical work. There are approximately 14 families of kinesins within the kinesin superfamily. Family classification is derived primarily from alignments of the sequences of the core motor domain. For this reason, the enzymatic behavior and motility of each motor generally reflects its family. At the cellular level, kinesin motors perform a variety of functions during cell division and within the mitotic spindle to ensure that chromosomes are segregated with the highest fidelity possible. The cellular functions of these motors are intimately related to their mechanical and enzymatic properties at the single molecule level. For this reason, motility studies designed to evaluate the activity of purified molecular motors are a requirement in order to understand, mechanistically, how these motors make the mitotic spindle work and what can cause the spindle to fail. This review will focus on a selection of illustrative kinesins, which have been studied at the molecular level in order to inform our understanding of their function in cells. In addition, the review will endeavor to point out some kinesins that have been studied extensively but which still lack sufficient molecular underpinnings to fully predict their contribution to spindle function.
驱动蛋白是利用 ATP 能量进行机械做功的酶。在驱动蛋白超家族中，大约有 14 个家族的驱动蛋白。家族分类主要源自核心马达结构域序列的比对。因此，每个马达的酶活性和运动特性通常反映了其家族。在细胞水平上，驱动蛋白马达在细胞分裂过程中以及在有丝分裂纺锤体中执行多种功能，以确保染色体以尽可能高的保真度分离。这些马达的细胞功能与其在单分子水平上的机械和酶特性密切相关。因此，设计旨在评估纯化分子马达活性的运动研究是理解这些马达如何使有丝分裂纺锤体工作以及什么会导致纺锤体失效的机制所必需的。本综述将重点介绍一些在分子水平上进行了研究的说明性驱动蛋白，以便深入了解它们在细胞中的功能。此外，本综述将努力指出一些已经得到广泛研究但仍缺乏充分分子基础来充分预测它们对纺锤体功能贡献的驱动蛋白。
