Cytoskeletal regulation of a transcription factor by DNA mimicry via coiled-coil interactions.

A long-established strategy for transcription regulation is the tethering of transcription factors to cellular membranes. By contrast, the principal effectors of Hedgehog signalling, the GLI transcription factors, are regulated by microtubules in the primary cilium and the cytoplasm. How GLI is tethered to microtubules remains unclear.

The kinesin-5 tail domain directly modulates the mechanochemical cycle of the motor domain for anti-parallel microtubule sliding.

Kinesin-5 motors organize mitotic spindles by sliding apart microtubules. They are homotetramers with dimeric motor and tail domains at both ends of a bipolar minifilament. Here, we describe a regulatory mechanism involving direct binding between tail and motor domains and its fundamental role in microtubule sliding.

Interplay between the Kinesin and Tubulin Mechanochemical Cycles Underlies Microtubule Tip Tracking by the Non-motile Ciliary Kinesin Kif7.

The correct localization of Hedgehog effectors to the tip of primary cilia is critical for proper signal transduction. The conserved non-motile kinesin Kif7 defines a "cilium-tip compartment" by localizing to the distal ends of axonemal microtubules. How Kif7 recognizes microtubule ends remains unknown.

Microtubule Tip Tracking by the Spindle and Kinetochore Protein Ska1 Requires Diverse Tubulin-Interacting Surfaces.

The macromolecular kinetochore functions to generate interactions between chromosomal DNA and spindle microtubules [1]. To facilitate chromosome movement and segregation, kinetochores must maintain associations with both growing and shrinking microtubule ends. It is critical to define the proteins and their properties that allow kinetochores to associate with dynamic microtubules.

Structural comparison of the Caenorhabditis elegans and human Ndc80 complexes bound to microtubules reveals distinct binding behavior.

During cell division, kinetochores must remain tethered to the plus ends of dynamic microtubule polymers. However, the molecular basis for robust kinetochore-microtubule interactions remains poorly understood. The conserved four-subunit Ndc80 complex plays an essential and direct role in generating dynamic kinetochore-microtubule attachments.

Multivalent Microtubule Recognition by Tubulin Tyrosine Ligase-like Family Glutamylases.

Glutamylation, the most prevalent tubulin posttranslational modification, marks stable microtubules and regulates recruitment and activity of microtubule- interacting proteins. Nine enzymes of the tubulin tyrosine ligase-like (TTLL) family catalyze glutamylation. TTLL7, the most abundant neuronal glutamylase, adds glutamates preferentially to the β-tubulin tail.

Reconstitution of the augmin complex provides insights into its architecture and function.

Proper microtubule nucleation during cell division requires augmin, a microtubule-associated hetero-octameric protein complex. In current models, augmin recruits γ-tubulin, through the carboxyl terminus of its hDgt6 subunit to nucleate microtubules within spindles. However, augmin's biochemical complexity has restricted analysis of its structural organization and function.

A helical processing pipeline for EM structure determination of membrane proteins.

Electron crystallography plays a key role in the structural biology of integral membrane proteins (IMPs) by offering one of the most direct means of providing insight into the functional state of these molecular machines in their lipid-associated forms, and also has the potential to facilitate examination of physiologically relevant transitional states and complexes. Helical or tubular crystals, which are the natural product of proteins crystallizing on the surface of a cylindrical vesicle, offer some unique advantages, such as three-dimensional (3D) information from a single view, compared to other crystalline forms. While a number of software packages are available for processing images of helical crystals to produce 3D electron density maps, widespread exploitation of helical image reconstruction is limited by a lack of standardized approaches and the initial effort and specialized expertise required.

A pseudoatomic model of the dynamin polymer identifies a hydrolysis-dependent powerstroke.

The GTPase dynamin catalyzes membrane fission by forming a collar around the necks of clathrin-coated pits, but the specific structural interactions and conformational changes that drive this process remain a mystery. We present the GMPPCP-bound structures of the truncated human dynamin 1 helical polymer at 12.2 Å and a fusion protein, GG, linking human dynamin 1's catalytic G domain to its GTPase effector domain (GED) at 2.

Visualizing ribosome biogenesis: parallel assembly pathways for the 30S subunit.

Ribosomes are self-assembling macromolecular machines that translate DNA into proteins, and an understanding of ribosome biogenesis is central to cellular physiology. Previous studies on the Escherichia coli 30S subunit suggest that ribosome assembly occurs via multiple parallel pathways rather than through a single rate-limiting step, but little mechanistic information is known about this process. Discovery single-particle profiling (DSP), an application of time-resolved electron microscopy, was used to obtain more than 1 million snapshots of assembling 30S subunits, identify and visualize the structures of 14 assembly intermediates, and monitor the population flux of these intermediates over time.

Insights into antiparallel microtubule crosslinking by PRC1, a conserved nonmotor microtubule binding protein.

Formation of microtubule architectures, required for cell shape maintenance in yeast, directional cell expansion in plants and cytokinesis in eukaryotes, depends on antiparallel microtubule crosslinking by the conserved MAP65 protein family. Here, we combine structural and single molecule fluorescence methods to examine how PRC1, the human MAP65, crosslinks antiparallel microtubules. We find that PRC1's microtubule binding is mediated by a structured domain with a spectrin-fold and an unstructured Lys/Arg-rich domain.

A new model for binding of kinesin 13 to curved microtubule protofilaments.

Kinesin motor proteins use adenosine triphosphate hydrolysis to do work on microtubules (MTs). Most kinesins walk along the MT, but class 13 kinesins instead uniquely recognize MT ends and depolymerize MT protofilaments. We have used electron microscopy (EM) to understand the molecular interactions by which kinesin 13 performs these tasks.

Nucleotide dependent packing differences in helical crystals of the ABC transporter MsbA.

Bacterial ATP binding cassette (ABC) exporters fulfill a wide variety of transmembrane transport roles and are homologous to the human multidrug resistance P-glycoprotein. Recent X-ray structures of the exporters MsbA and Sav1866 have begun to describe the conformational changes that accompany the ABC transport cycle. Here we present cryo-electron microscopy structures of MsbA reconstituted into a lipid bilayer.

Structure and functional role of dynein's microtubule-binding domain.

Dynein motors move various cargos along microtubules within the cytoplasm and power the beating of cilia and flagella. An unusual feature of dynein is that its microtubule-binding domain (MTBD) is separated from its ring-shaped AAA+ adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) domain by a 15-nanometer coiled-coil stalk. We report the crystal structure of the mouse cytoplasmic dynein MTBD and a portion of the coiled coil, which supports a mechanism by which the ATPase domain and MTBD may communicate through a shift in the heptad registry of the coiled coil.

Orientation and structure of the Ndc80 complex on the microtubule lattice.

The four-subunit Ndc80 complex, comprised of Ndc80/Nuf2 and Spc24/Spc25 dimers, directly connects kinetochores to spindle microtubules. The complex is anchored to the kinetochore at the Spc24/25 end, and the Ndc80/Nuf2 dimer projects outward to bind to microtubules. Here, we use cryoelectron microscopy and helical image analysis to visualize the interaction of the Ndc80/Nuf2 dimer with microtubules.

Similarities and differences between frozen-hydrated, rigor acto-S1 complexes of insect flight and chicken skeletal muscles.

The structure and function of myosin crossbridges in asynchronous insect flight muscle (IFM) have been elucidated in situ using multiple approaches. These include generating "atomic" models of myosin in multiple contractile states by rebuilding the crystal structure of chicken subfragment 1 (S1) to fit IFM crossbridges in lower-resolution electron microscopy tomograms and by "mapping" the functional effects of genetically substituted, isoform-specific domains, including the converter domain, in chimeric IFM myosin to sequences in the crystal structure of chicken S1. We prepared helical reconstructions (approximately 25 A resolution) to compare the structural characteristics of nucleotide-free myosin0 S1 bound to actin (acto-S1) isolated from chicken skeletal muscle (CSk) and the flight muscles of Lethocerus (Leth) wild-type Drosophila (wt Dros) and a Drosophila chimera (IFI-EC) wherein the converter domain of the indirect flight muscle myosin isoform has been replaced by the embryonic skeletal myosin converter domain.

Visualisation of a kinesin-13 motor on microtubule end mimics.

An expanding collection of proteins localises to microtubule ends to regulate cytoskeletal dynamics and architecture by unknown molecular mechanisms. Electron microscopy is invaluable for studying microtubule structure, but because microtubule ends are heterogeneous, their structures are difficult to determine. We therefore investigated whether tubulin oligomers induced by the drug dolastatin could mimic microtubule ends.

Cadherin 23 and protocadherin 15 interact to form tip-link filaments in sensory hair cells.

Hair cells of the inner ear are mechanosensors that transduce mechanical forces arising from sound waves and head movement into electrochemical signals to provide our sense of hearing and balance. Each hair cell contains at the apical surface a bundle of stereocilia. Mechanoelectrical transduction takes place close to the tips of stereocilia in proximity to extracellular tip-link filaments that connect the stereocilia and are thought to gate the mechanoelectrical transduction channel.

Automation of random conical tilt and orthogonal tilt data collection using feature-based correlation.

Visualization by electron microscopy has provided many insights into the composition, quaternary structure, and mechanism of macromolecular assemblies. By preserving samples in stain or vitreous ice it is possible to image them as discrete particles, and from these images generate three-dimensional structures. This 'single-particle' approach suffers from two major shortcomings; it requires an initial model to reconstitute 2D data into a 3D volume, and it often fails when faced with conformational variability.

Three-dimensional reconstruction of bovine brain V-ATPase by cryo-electron microscopy and single particle analysis.

Bovine V-ATPase from brain clathrin-coated vesicles was investigated by cryo-electron microscopy and single particle analysis. Our studies revealed great flexibility of the central linker region connecting V1 and V0. As a consequence, the two sub-complexes were processed separately and the resulting volumes were merged computationally.

Analysis of the weak interactions of ADP-Unc104 and ADP-kinesin with microtubules and their inhibition by MAP2c.

Microtubule based motors like conventional kinesin (Kinesin-1) and Unc104 (Kinesin-3), and classical microtubule associated proteins (MAPs), including MAP2, are intimately involved in neurite formation and organelle transport. The processive motility of both these kinesins involves weak microtubule interactions in the ADP-bound states. Using cosedimentation assays, we have investigated these weak interactions and characterized their inhibition by MAP2c.

Lucky 13-microtubule depolymerisation by kinesin-13 motors.

The kinesin-13 class of motors catalyses microtubule depolymerisation by bending tubulins at microtubule ends. Depolymerisation activity is intrinsic to the kinesin-13 motor core but the activity of the core alone is very low compared with that of constructs that also contain a conserved neck sequence. The full-length dimeric motor is an efficient depolymeriser and also diffuses along the microtubule lattice, which helps it to find microtubule ends.

The role of the kinesin-13 neck in microtubule depolymerization.

To ensure genetic integrity, replicated chromosomes must be accurately distributed to daughter cells-a process that is accomplished on the microtubule spindle. Kinesin-13 motors play an essential role in this process by performing regulated microtubule depolymerization. We set out to dissect the depolymerization mechanism of these kinesins, and in particular, the role of their conserved neck sequence.

Supramolecular architecture of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus revealed by electron cryomicroscopy.

Coronavirus particles are enveloped and pleomorphic and are thus refractory to crystallization and symmetry-assisted reconstruction. A novel methodology of single-particle image analysis was applied to selected virus features to obtain a detailed model of the oligomeric state and spatial relationships among viral structural proteins. Two-dimensional images of the S, M, and N structural proteins of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and two other coronaviruses were refined to a resolution of approximately 4 nm.