Dynactin is required for coordinated bidirectional motility, but not for dynein membrane attachment.

Transport of cellular and neuronal vesicles, organelles, and other particles along microtubules requires the molecular motor protein dynein (Mallik and Gross, 2004). Critical to dynein function is dynactin, a multiprotein complex commonly thought to be required for dynein attachment to membrane compartments (Karki and Holzbaur, 1999). Recent work also has found that mutations in dynactin can cause the human motor neuron disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Puls et al.

Kinesin-1 and Dynein are the primary motors for fast transport of mitochondria in Drosophila motor axons.

To address questions about mechanisms of filament-based organelle transport, a system was developed to image and track mitochondria in an intact Drosophila nervous system. Mutant analyses suggest that the primary motors for mitochondrial movement in larval motor axons are kinesin-1 (anterograde) and cytoplasmic dynein (retrograde), and interestingly that kinesin-1 is critical for retrograde transport by dynein. During transport, there was little evidence that force production by the two opposing motors was competitive, suggesting a mechanism for alternate coordination.

APLIP1, a kinesin binding JIP-1/JNK scaffold protein, influences the axonal transport of both vesicles and mitochondria in Drosophila.

In a genetic screen for Kinesin heavy chain (Khc)-interacting proteins, we identified APLIP1, a neuronally expressed Drosophila homolog of JIP-1, a JNK scaffolding protein . JIP-1 and its homologs have been proposed to act as physical linkers between kinesin-1, which is a plus-end-directed microtubule motor, and certain anterograde vesicles in the axons of cultured neurons . Mutation of Aplip1 caused larval paralysis, axonal swellings, and reduced levels of both anterograde and retrograde vesicle transport, similar to the effects of kinesin-1 inhibition.