title: Developmental regulation of vesicle transport in Drosophila embryos: forces and kinetics.
abstract: In Drosophila embryos, microtubules oriented along apical-basal directions support saltatory vesicle movement. Vesicle traffic includes lipid droplets whose distribution shifts twice during early embryogenesis. Using microscopy, optical tweezers, and a novel squashed-mount embryo preparation, we tracked single droplets and measured the forces these generated. Droplet stalling forces change developmentally, in a roughly quantized fashion, consistent with variation in the number of active motors. We characterized a mutation, klarsicht, that affects droplet transport. Klar+ facilitates changes in force, possibly by coordinating the activity of multiple motors. Alterations in transport affected motion in both apical and basal directions, indicating tight coupling between motors of opposite polarity. Mutations in klar also affect nuclear migration during eye development, suggesting multiple roles for klar-based transport.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Princeton University, New Jersey 08544, USA.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Welte
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Gross
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Postner
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Block
authors.forename: E F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Wieschaus
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport / Q000502:physiology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D005123:Eye / Q000254:growth & development; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000378:metabolism*; D016547:Kinesins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008870:Microtubules / Q000502:physiology; D016296:Mutagenesis / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins; D016547:Kinesins