How molecular transports change gear: Environment determines the motion of motor proteins
Friday, December 21, 2012 - 09:00
in Biology & Nature
The motor protein myosin-V, which hauls molecular cargoes around cells by ratcheting along filaments of actin, switches between two different molecular mechanisms of movement depending on the environment. This finding by a research group led by Toshio Yanagida of the RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center, Osaka, and Osaka University, could form the basis for designing energy-saving artificial nano-motors.