![[Feedback]](/icons/banner/feedbackACT.gif){kind=icon}
![[For Subscribers]](/icons/banner/subscriberACT.gif){kind=icon}
![[Archive]](/icons/banner/archiveACT.gif){kind=icon}
![[Search]](/icons/banner/searchACT.gif){kind=icon}
![[Contents]](/icons/banner/tocACT.gif){kind=icon}
|
|
|
|
|
||
Vol. 16, Issue 1, 153-161, January 2005
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
* Institut für Physiologische Chemie, Universität München, 81377 München, Germany;
Zellbiologie, Universität Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany
Submitted May 19, 2004;
Accepted October 1, 2004
Monitoring Editor: Thomas Fox
Eukaryotic cells use diverse cytoskeleton-dependent machineries to control inheritance and intracellular positioning of mitochondria. In particular, microtubules play a major role in mitochondrial motility in the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa and in mammalian cells. We examined the role of two novel Unc104/KIF1-related members of the kinesin family, Nkin2 and Nkin3, in mitochondrial motility in Neurospora. The Nkin2 protein is required for mitochondrial interactions with microtubules in vitro. Mutant hyphae lacking Nkin2 show mitochondrial motility defects in vivo early after germination of conidiospores. Nkin3, a member of a unique fungal-specific subgroup of small Unc104/KIF1-related proteins, is not associated with mitochondria in wild-type cells. However, it is highly expressed and recruited to mitochondria in 
nkin-2 mutants. Mitochondria lacking Nkin2 require Nkin3 for binding to microtubules in vitro, and mitochondrial motility defects in nkin-2 mutants disappear with up-regulation of Nkin3 in vivo. We propose that mitochondrial transport is mediated by Nkin2 in Neurospora, and organelle motility defects in nkin-2 mutants are rescued by Nkin3. Apparently, a highly versatile complement of organelle motors allows the cell to efficiently respond to exogenous challenges, a process that might also account for the great variety of different mitochondrial transport systems that have evolved in eukaryotic cells.
The online version of this article contains supplemental material at MBC Online (http://www.molbiolcell.org).
Corresponding author. E-mail address: benedikt.westermann{at}unibayreuth.de.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  S. Chiron, A. Bobkova, H. Zhou, and M. P. Yaffe CLASP regulates mitochondrial distribution in Schizosaccharomyces pombe J. Cell Biol., July 14, 2008; 182(1): 41 - 49. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. Altmann, M. Frank, D. Neumann, S. Jakobs, and B. Westermann The class V myosin motor protein, Myo2, plays a major role in mitochondrial motility in Saccharomyces cerevisiae J. Cell Biol., April 3, 2008; 181(1): 119 - 130. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 G. Steinberg Hyphal Growth: a Tale of Motors, Lipids, and the Spitzenkorper Eukaryot. Cell, March 1, 2007; 6(3): 351 - 360. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Adio, M. Bloemink, M. Hartel, S. Leier, M. A. Geeves, and G. Woehlke Kinetic and Mechanistic Basis of the Nonprocessive Kinesin-3 Motor NcKin3 J. Biol. Chem., December 8, 2006; 281(49): 37782 - 37793. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. D. Pilling, D. Horiuchi, C. M. Lively, and W. M. Saxton Kinesin-1 and Dynein Are the Primary Motors for Fast Transport of Mitochondria in Drosophila Motor Axons Mol. Biol. Cell, April 1, 2006; 17(4): 2057 - 2068. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
