Evidence and sources
Each number on the Kinesin page goes back to an experiment or a calculation. Each card shows the result, how it was measured, and where it was published.
Measurements
Loading the measurements…
Big picture numbers
Structures
- 4HNAKinesin-1 head on tubulin, ATP-likeThe front half of the step: ATP-like kinesin on tubulin with the neck linker docked. It is the end state of the power stroke. X-ray diffraction, 3.19 Å.
- 4LNUKinesin-1 head on tubulin, no nucleotideThe waiting state: a tubulin-bound head with an empty nucleotide pocket. It pairs with 4HNA to show how ATP binding rotates the head subdomains. X-ray diffraction, 2.19 Å.
- 3J8XKinesin-1 on a microtubule, no nucleotideSame construct and same lattice as 3J8Y, so the two entries form the cleanest morph of neck-linker docking on a real microtubule. Electron microscopy, 5 Å.
- 3J8YKinesin-1 on a microtubule, ATP analogueOne kinesin head on one lattice αβ dimer in the ATP state. Copy this unit along a protofilament to decorate the microtubule. Electron microscopy, 5 Å.
- 3KINKinesin-1 dimer with neck coiled coilThe only kinesin-1 dimer crystal structure. It gives the neck coiled coil that joins the two heads. The head arrangement does not fit the lattice, so use it for the neck, not for the stepping pose. X-ray diffraction, 3.1 Å.
- 8RHHTail-locked kinesin-1 dimer on tubulinShows both kinesin-1 heads to residue 346 and the tail that switches the motor off. Use it for a regulation panel, not for the walking cycle. Electron microscopy, 3 Å.
- 1JFFαβ-tubulin dimerThe classic refined tubulin dimer. It is a light building block for the lattice when the kinesin-bound dimer is not needed. Electron crystallography, 3.5 Å.
- 6EVZ13-protofilament GDP microtubule patchA real 13-protofilament lattice patch. The lattice numbers in 'geometry' were measured from it. Electron microscopy, 3.8 Å.
- 6DPUGMPCPP microtubule patch, 3.1 ÅThe highest-resolution undecorated lattice here. It shows the longer 8.4 nm dimer repeat of the GTP-like lattice. Electron microscopy, 3.1 Å.
- 1BG2Human kinesin-1 head aloneThe first kinesin head structure. It revealed the shared core with myosin, so use it on the evolution panel. X-ray diffraction, 1.8 Å.
- 8UTNKinesin-3 KIF1A dimer, both heads boundA real two-heads-bound kinesin dimer on one protofilament. It is the best template for the stepping pose, and it is the kinesin-3 swap. Electron microscopy, 3.1 Å.
- 1I5SKinesin-3 KIF1A head, ADPADP partner of 1I6I. Same construct, so the pair morphs the switch motion of a kinesin-3 head. X-ray diffraction, 2.2 Å.
- 1I6IKinesin-3 KIF1A head, ATP analogueATP-like partner of 1I5S. X-ray diffraction, 2 Å.
- 2NCDKinesin-14 Ncd dimer, minus-end motorThe minus-end swap. Its coiled-coil neck, not its motor core, sets the direction. X-ray diffraction, 2.5 Å.
- 1II6Kinesin-5 Eg5 head, ADPADP state of the kinesin-5 swap. It shows a neck linker docked in an unusual position. X-ray diffraction, 2.1 Å.
- 3HQDKinesin-5 Eg5 head, ATP analogueATP-like partner of 1II6 for the kinesin-5 morph. X-ray diffraction, 2.19 Å.
- 5MIOKinesin-13 MCAK bending tubulinThe kinesin-13 swap. This motor does not walk. It holds tubulin in a curved shape and peels dimers off microtubule ends. X-ray diffraction, 3.19 Å.
References
- 1Svoboda et al., Nature 1993. Direct observation of kinesin stepping by optical trapping interferometry
- 2Svoboda et al., Cell 1994. Force and velocity measured for single kinesin molecules
- 3Meyhöfer et al., PNAS 1995. The force generated by a single kinesin molecule against an elastic load
- 4Yildiz et al., Science 2004. Kinesin Walks Hand-Over-Hand
- 5Schnitzer et al., Nature 1997. Kinesin hydrolyses one ATP per 8-nm step
- 6Hua et al., Nature 1997. Coupling of kinesin steps to ATP hydrolysis
- 7Visscher et al., Nature 1999. Single kinesin molecules studied with a molecular force clamp
- 8Carter et al., Nature 2005. Mechanics of the kinesin step
- 9Nishiyama et al., Nat Cell Biol 2002. Chemomechanical coupling of the forward and backward steps of single kinesin molecules
- 10Rice et al., Nature 1999. A structural change in the kinesin motor protein that drives motility
- 11Shastry et al., Curr Biol 2010. Neck Linker Length Determines the Degree of Processivity in Kinesin-1 and Kinesin-2 Motors
- 12Yildiz et al., Cell 2008. Intramolecular Strain Coordinates Kinesin Stepping Behavior along Microtubules
- 13Milic et al., PNAS 2014. Kinesin processivity is gated by phosphate release
- 14Andreasson et al., eLife 2015. Examining kinesin processivity within a general gating framework
- 15Verbrugge et al., Biophys J 2007. Kinesin Moving through the Spotlight: Single-Motor Fluorescence Microscopy with Submillisecond Time Resolution
- 16Block et al., Nature 1990. Bead movement by single kinesin molecules studied with optical tweezers
- 17Cohn et al., J Biol Chem 1989. Quantitative analysis of sea urchin egg kinesin-driven microtubule motility
- 18Thorn et al., J Cell Biol 2000. Engineering the Processive Run Length of the Kinesin Motor
- 19Kull et al., Nature 1996. Crystal structure of the kinesin motor domain reveals a structural similarity to myosin
- 20Vale et al., J Cell Biol 1996. Switches, latches, and amplifiers: common themes of G proteins and molecular motors
- 21Kikkawa et al., Nature 2001. Switch-based mechanism of kinesin motors
- 22Wickstead et al., Mol Biol Cell 2006. A “Holistic” Kinesin Phylogeny Reveals New Kinesin Families and Predicts Protein Functions
- 23Hirokawa et al., Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 2009. Kinesin superfamily motor proteins and intracellular transport
- 24Lawrence et al., J Cell Biol 2004. A standardized kinesin nomenclature
- 25Gigant et al., Nat Struct Mol Biol 2013. Structure of a kinesin–tubulin complex and implications for kinesin motility
- 26Cao et al., Nat Commun 2014. The structure of apo-kinesin bound to tubulin links the nucleotide cycle to movement
- 27Shang et al., eLife 2014. High-resolution structures of kinesin on microtubules provide a basis for nucleotide-gated force-generation
- 28Kozielski et al., Cell 1997. The Crystal Structure of Dimeric Kinesin and Implications for Microtubule-Dependent Motility
- 29Atherton et al., Nat Commun 2025. Microtubule association induces a Mg-free apo-like ADP pre-release conformation in kinesin-1 that is unaffected by its autoinhibitory tail
- 30Song et al., PNAS 1993. Recombinant kinesin motor domain binds to beta-tubulin and decorates microtubules with a B surface lattice
- 31Benoit et al., Nat Commun 2024. Cryo-EM unveils kinesin KIF1A’s processivity mechanism and the impact of its pathogenic variant P305L
- 32Sablin et al., Nature 1998. Direction determination in the minus-end-directed kinesin motor ncd
- 33Walker et al., Nature 1990. The Drosophila claret segregation protein is a minus-end directed motor molecule
- 34Kapitein et al., Nature 2005. The bipolar mitotic kinesin Eg5 moves on both microtubules that it crosslinks
- 35Mayer et al., Science 1999. Small Molecule Inhibitor of Mitotic Spindle Bipolarity Identified in a Phenotype-Based Screen
- 36Turner et al., J Biol Chem 2001. Crystal Structure of the Mitotic Spindle Kinesin Eg5 Reveals a Novel Conformation of the Neck-linker
- 37Desai et al., Cell 1999. Kin I Kinesins Are Microtubule-Destabilizing Enzymes
- 38Wang et al., Nat Commun 2017. Insight into microtubule disassembly by kinesin-13s from the structure of Kif2C bound to tubulin
- 39Case et al., Cell 1997. The Directional Preference of Kinesin Motors Is Specified by an Element outside of the Motor Catalytic Domain
- 40Endow et al., Science 1998. Determinants of Kinesin Motor Polarity
- 41Henningsen et al., Nature 1997. Reversal in the direction of movement of a molecular motor
- 42Nakamura et al., Nat Nanotechnol 2014. Remote control of myosin and kinesin motors using light-activated gearshifting
- 43Hess et al., Rev Mol Biotechnol 2001. Molecular shuttles based on motor proteins: active transport in synthetic environments
- 44Hess et al., Acc Chem Res 2018. Engineering with Biomolecular Motors
- 45Saper et al., Chem Rev 2020. Synthetic Systems Powered by Biological Molecular Motors
- 46Nicolau et al., PNAS 2016. Parallel computation with molecular-motor-propelled agents in nanofabricated networks
- 47Korosec et al., Nat Commun 2024. Motility of an autonomous protein-based artificial motor that operates via a burnt-bridge principle
- 48Tilney et al., J Cell Biol 1973. MICROTUBULES: EVIDENCE FOR 13 PROTOFILAMENTS
- 49Mandelkow et al., J Cell Biol 1986. On the surface lattice of microtubules: helix starts, protofilament number, seam, and handedness
- 50Kikkawa et al., J Cell Biol 1994. Direct visualization of the microtubule lattice seam both in vitro and in vivo
- 51Mitchison et al., Science 1993. Localization of an Exchangeable GTP BZinding Site at the Plus End of Microtubules
- 52Manka et al., Nat Struct Mol Biol 2018. The role of tubulin–tubulin lattice contacts in the mechanism of microtubule dynamic instability