Molecular Machinery
← Kinesin

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

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Big picture numbers

CalculatedSvoboda 1993, opens the source in a new tabSchnitzer 1997, opens the source in a new tabVerbrugge 2007, opens the source in a new tabMilic 2014, opens the source in a new tab
CalculatedSvoboda 1993, opens the source in a new tabSchnitzer 1997, opens the source in a new tabVerbrugge 2007, opens the source in a new tabMilic 2014, opens the source in a new tab
CalculatedSvoboda 1993, opens the source in a new tabSchnitzer 1997, opens the source in a new tabVerbrugge 2007, opens the source in a new tabMilic 2014, opens the source in a new tab
CalculatedSvoboda 1993, opens the source in a new tabSchnitzer 1997, opens the source in a new tabVerbrugge 2007, opens the source in a new tabMilic 2014, opens the source in a new tab
CalculatedBrown 2003, opens the source in a new tabBNID 113074, opens the source in a new tab
CalculatedBrown 2003, opens the source in a new tabBNID 113074, opens the source in a new tab
MeasuredAzevedo 2009, opens the source in a new tab
MeasuredMiki 2001, opens the source in a new tab

Structures

  • 4HNA
    Kinesin-1 head on tubulin, ATP-like
    The 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.
  • 4LNU
    Kinesin-1 head on tubulin, no nucleotide
    The 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.
  • 3J8X
    Kinesin-1 on a microtubule, no nucleotide
    Same 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.
  • 3J8Y
    Kinesin-1 on a microtubule, ATP analogue
    One 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.
  • 3KIN
    Kinesin-1 dimer with neck coiled coil
    The 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.
  • 8RHH
    Tail-locked kinesin-1 dimer on tubulin
    Shows 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.
  • 1JFF
    αβ-tubulin dimer
    The 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.
  • 6EVZ
    13-protofilament GDP microtubule patch
    A real 13-protofilament lattice patch. The lattice numbers in 'geometry' were measured from it. Electron microscopy, 3.8 Å.
  • 6DPU
    GMPCPP microtubule patch, 3.1 Å
    The highest-resolution undecorated lattice here. It shows the longer 8.4 nm dimer repeat of the GTP-like lattice. Electron microscopy, 3.1 Å.
  • 1BG2
    Human kinesin-1 head alone
    The first kinesin head structure. It revealed the shared core with myosin, so use it on the evolution panel. X-ray diffraction, 1.8 Å.
  • 8UTN
    Kinesin-3 KIF1A dimer, both heads bound
    A 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.
  • 1I5S
    Kinesin-3 KIF1A head, ADP
    ADP partner of 1I6I. Same construct, so the pair morphs the switch motion of a kinesin-3 head. X-ray diffraction, 2.2 Å.
  • 1I6I
    Kinesin-3 KIF1A head, ATP analogue
    ATP-like partner of 1I5S. X-ray diffraction, 2 Å.
  • 2NCD
    Kinesin-14 Ncd dimer, minus-end motor
    The minus-end swap. Its coiled-coil neck, not its motor core, sets the direction. X-ray diffraction, 2.5 Å.
  • 1II6
    Kinesin-5 Eg5 head, ADP
    ADP state of the kinesin-5 swap. It shows a neck linker docked in an unusual position. X-ray diffraction, 2.1 Å.
  • 3HQD
    Kinesin-5 Eg5 head, ATP analogue
    ATP-like partner of 1II6 for the kinesin-5 morph. X-ray diffraction, 2.19 Å.
  • 5MIO
    Kinesin-13 MCAK bending tubulin
    The 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

  1. 1Svoboda et al., Nature 1993. Direct observation of kinesin stepping by optical trapping interferometry
  2. 2Svoboda et al., Cell 1994. Force and velocity measured for single kinesin molecules
  3. 3Meyhöfer et al., PNAS 1995. The force generated by a single kinesin molecule against an elastic load
  4. 4Yildiz et al., Science 2004. Kinesin Walks Hand-Over-Hand
  5. 5Schnitzer et al., Nature 1997. Kinesin hydrolyses one ATP per 8-nm step
  6. 6Hua et al., Nature 1997. Coupling of kinesin steps to ATP hydrolysis
  7. 7Visscher et al., Nature 1999. Single kinesin molecules studied with a molecular force clamp
  8. 8Carter et al., Nature 2005. Mechanics of the kinesin step
  9. 9Nishiyama et al., Nat Cell Biol 2002. Chemomechanical coupling of the forward and backward steps of single kinesin molecules
  10. 10Rice et al., Nature 1999. A structural change in the kinesin motor protein that drives motility
  11. 11Shastry et al., Curr Biol 2010. Neck Linker Length Determines the Degree of Processivity in Kinesin-1 and Kinesin-2 Motors
  12. 12Yildiz et al., Cell 2008. Intramolecular Strain Coordinates Kinesin Stepping Behavior along Microtubules
  13. 13Milic et al., PNAS 2014. Kinesin processivity is gated by phosphate release
  14. 14Andreasson et al., eLife 2015. Examining kinesin processivity within a general gating framework
  15. 15Verbrugge et al., Biophys J 2007. Kinesin Moving through the Spotlight: Single-Motor Fluorescence Microscopy with Submillisecond Time Resolution
  16. 16Block et al., Nature 1990. Bead movement by single kinesin molecules studied with optical tweezers
  17. 17Cohn et al., J Biol Chem 1989. Quantitative analysis of sea urchin egg kinesin-driven microtubule motility
  18. 18Thorn et al., J Cell Biol 2000. Engineering the Processive Run Length of the Kinesin Motor
  19. 19Kull et al., Nature 1996. Crystal structure of the kinesin motor domain reveals a structural similarity to myosin
  20. 20Vale et al., J Cell Biol 1996. Switches, latches, and amplifiers: common themes of G proteins and molecular motors
  21. 21Kikkawa et al., Nature 2001. Switch-based mechanism of kinesin motors
  22. 22Wickstead et al., Mol Biol Cell 2006. A “Holistic” Kinesin Phylogeny Reveals New Kinesin Families and Predicts Protein Functions
  23. 23Hirokawa et al., Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 2009. Kinesin superfamily motor proteins and intracellular transport
  24. 24Lawrence et al., J Cell Biol 2004. A standardized kinesin nomenclature
  25. 25Gigant et al., Nat Struct Mol Biol 2013. Structure of a kinesin–tubulin complex and implications for kinesin motility
  26. 26Cao et al., Nat Commun 2014. The structure of apo-kinesin bound to tubulin links the nucleotide cycle to movement
  27. 27Shang et al., eLife 2014. High-resolution structures of kinesin on microtubules provide a basis for nucleotide-gated force-generation
  28. 28Kozielski et al., Cell 1997. The Crystal Structure of Dimeric Kinesin and Implications for Microtubule-Dependent Motility
  29. 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
  30. 30Song et al., PNAS 1993. Recombinant kinesin motor domain binds to beta-tubulin and decorates microtubules with a B surface lattice
  31. 31Benoit et al., Nat Commun 2024. Cryo-EM unveils kinesin KIF1A’s processivity mechanism and the impact of its pathogenic variant P305L
  32. 32Sablin et al., Nature 1998. Direction determination in the minus-end-directed kinesin motor ncd
  33. 33Walker et al., Nature 1990. The Drosophila claret segregation protein is a minus-end directed motor molecule
  34. 34Kapitein et al., Nature 2005. The bipolar mitotic kinesin Eg5 moves on both microtubules that it crosslinks
  35. 35Mayer et al., Science 1999. Small Molecule Inhibitor of Mitotic Spindle Bipolarity Identified in a Phenotype-Based Screen
  36. 36Turner et al., J Biol Chem 2001. Crystal Structure of the Mitotic Spindle Kinesin Eg5 Reveals a Novel Conformation of the Neck-linker
  37. 37Desai et al., Cell 1999. Kin I Kinesins Are Microtubule-Destabilizing Enzymes
  38. 38Wang et al., Nat Commun 2017. Insight into microtubule disassembly by kinesin-13s from the structure of Kif2C bound to tubulin
  39. 39Case et al., Cell 1997. The Directional Preference of Kinesin Motors Is Specified by an Element outside of the Motor Catalytic Domain
  40. 40Endow et al., Science 1998. Determinants of Kinesin Motor Polarity
  41. 41Henningsen et al., Nature 1997. Reversal in the direction of movement of a molecular motor
  42. 42Nakamura et al., Nat Nanotechnol 2014. Remote control of myosin and kinesin motors using light-activated gearshifting
  43. 43Hess et al., Rev Mol Biotechnol 2001. Molecular shuttles based on motor proteins: active transport in synthetic environments
  44. 44Hess et al., Acc Chem Res 2018. Engineering with Biomolecular Motors
  45. 45Saper et al., Chem Rev 2020. Synthetic Systems Powered by Biological Molecular Motors
  46. 46Nicolau et al., PNAS 2016. Parallel computation with molecular-motor-propelled agents in nanofabricated networks
  47. 47Korosec et al., Nat Commun 2024. Motility of an autonomous protein-based artificial motor that operates via a burnt-bridge principle
  48. 48Tilney et al., J Cell Biol 1973. MICROTUBULES: EVIDENCE FOR 13 PROTOFILAMENTS
  49. 49Mandelkow et al., J Cell Biol 1986. On the surface lattice of microtubules: helix starts, protofilament number, seam, and handedness
  50. 50Kikkawa et al., J Cell Biol 1994. Direct visualization of the microtubule lattice seam both in vitro and in vivo
  51. 51Mitchison et al., Science 1993. Localization of an Exchangeable GTP BZinding Site at the Plus End of Microtubules
  52. 52Manka et al., Nat Struct Mol Biol 2018. The role of tubulin–tubulin lattice contacts in the mechanism of microtubule dynamic instability