title: Asymmetries in kinesin-2 and cytoplasmic dynein contributions to melanosome transport.
abstract: The mechanisms involved in bidirectional transport along microtubules remain largely unknown. We explored the collective action of kinesin-2 and dynein motors during transport of melanosomes in Xenopus laevis melanophores. These motors are attached to organelles through accessory proteins establishing a complex molecular linker. We determined both the stiffness of this linker and the organelles speed and observed that these parameters depended on the organelle size and cargo direction. Our results suggest that melanosome transport is driven by two dissimilar teams: whereas dynein motors compete with kinesin-2 affecting the properties of plus-end directed organelles, kinesin-2 does not seem to play a similar role during minus-end transport.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, IQUIBICEN-CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, CP1428 Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: María Cecilia
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: De Rossi
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio, Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, CP1428 Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: María Emilia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: De Rossi
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Cálculo, Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, CP1428 Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Mariela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sued
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Cálculo, Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, CP1428 Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, IFIBA-CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, CP1428 Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: lbruno@df.uba.ar.
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bruno
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, IQUIBICEN-CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, CP1428 Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: vlevi12@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Levi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D056445:Cytoplasmic Dyneins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016547:Kinesins / Q000378:metabolism*; D020460:Melanosomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D029867:Xenopus Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029867:Xenopus Proteins; D056445:Cytoplasmic Dyneins; D016547:Kinesins
keywords: Intracellular transport; Molecular motors; Single particle tracking; Xenopus laevis melanophores