Stephen L Rogers, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
Jonathan M Scholey, University of California, Davis, California, USA
Published online: March 2004
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0002621
Light microscopic motility assays provide critical information about the mechanism of action of motor proteins. Motility assays allow the visualization of individual motor proteins moving in vitro, and the movement of such motors as they drive microtubule-based motility events in living cells.
Keywords: motility; microtubule; kinesin; dynein; microscopy
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Figure 1. Microtubule motility assays. (a) In the microtubule gliding assay, microtubules are visualized moving over a ‘lawn’ of motor proteins absorbed to the microscope coverglass. (b) Single, fluorescently labelled motor proteins can be visualized moving along microtubules by total internal reflection microscopy in the single molecule motility assay.
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| References | |
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| Further Reading | |
| book Inoue S and Spring KR (1997) Video Microscopy: The Fundamentals, 2nd edn. New York: Plenum. | |
| Ishii Y, Ishijima A and Yanagida T (2001) Single molecule nanomanipulation of biomolecules. Trends in Biotechnology 19: 211–216. | |
| Moreau V and Way M (1999) In vitro approaches to study actin and microtubule dependent cell processes. Current Opinion in Cell Biology 11: 152–158. | |
| book Scholey JM (ed.) (1993) Motility assays for motor proteins. Methods in Cell Biology 39. | |
| Signor D, Rose LS and Scholey JM (2000) Analysis of the roles of kinesin and dynein motors in microtubule-based transport in the C. elegans nervous system. Methods 22: 317–325. | |
| book The Kinesin Homepage (2003) http://www.proweb.org/kinesin | |
| Vallee RB (1998) Molecular motors and the cytoskeleton, part B. Methods in Enzymology 298: 1–636. | |
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