Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, P.R. China.
Adv Protein Chem Struct Biol. 2024;141:87-122. doi: 10.1016/bs.apcsb.2023.12.002. Epub 2023 Dec 28.
The dimeric kinesin-8 motors have the biological function of depolymerizing microtubules (MTs) from the plus end. However, the molecular mechanism of the depolymerization promoted by the kinesin-8 motors is still undetermined. Here, a model is proposed for the MT depolymerization by the kinesin-8 motors. Based on the model, the dynamics of depolymerization in the presence of the single motor at the MT plus end under no load and under load on the motor is studied theoretically. The dynamics of depolymerization in the presence of multiple motors at the MT plus end is also analyzed. The theoretical results explain well the available experimental data. The studies can also be applicable to other families of kinesin motors such as kinesin-13 mitotic centromere-associated kinesin motors that have the ability to depolymerize MTs.
二聚体的 kinesin-8 马达具有从正端解聚微管（MTs）的生物学功能。然而，kinesin-8 马达促进解聚的分子机制仍未确定。本文提出了 kinesin-8 马达介导的 MT 解聚模型。在此基础上，从理论上研究了无负载和有负载情况下单个马达位于 MT 正端时的解聚动力学，以及多个马达位于 MT 正端时的解聚动力学。理论结果很好地解释了现有的实验数据。这些研究也可适用于其他 kinesin 马达家族，如具有解聚 MT 能力的 kinesin-13 有丝分裂着丝粒相关驱动蛋白马达。
