Movement at the Molecular Level
Diffusion: <r
2
> = 6 D t (D≈6 π μ a)
Typical numbers:
Image removed due to
10 nm protein in water D= 10
-10
m
2
/s
….in cells D= 10
-12
m
2
/s (D= 10
-14
m
2
/s lipids)
copyright considerations.
[<r
2
>]
1/2
=1 μm, t ~0.2 sec in cells
[<r
2
>]
1/2
=10 μm, t ~20 sec in cells
Slow and isotropic.
How to generate
fast vectorial motion ?
Axonal transport of
organelles in giant squids
2/28/03 BEH 410-10.537J
1
Directed (Vectorial) Molecular Movement
Polymerization:
Living polymerization of actin/microtubules
Springs:
Conformational changes of molecules
Motor Proteins:
nucleotide (ATP) hydrolysis: chemical energy -> work
Pumps:
Hydrolysis of ATP
Create concentration gradients
2
Actin Comets Propelling Listeria
Listeria monocytogenes moving in PtK2 cells
These pathogenic bacteria grow directly in the host cell cytoplasm.
The phase-dense streaks behind the bacteria are the actin-rich comet tails.
Actin-based motility is also used in cellular motility; this cell is using it's cytoskeleton
to crawl toward the lower right-hand corner. Speeded up 150X over real time.
--Julie Theriot & Dan Portnoy
3
Actin is Transiently Tethered
to the Bacteria
Images removed due to copyright considerations.
See Cameron, L.A., T. M. Svitkina, D. Vignjevic, J. A. Theriot, and G. G. Borisy.
"Dendritic organization of actin comet tails."
Curr Biol. 2001 Jan 23;11(2):130-5.
Noireaux et al. (2000): it takes about
10 picoN to separate the actin from
the comet…
4
Images removed due to copyright considerations.
See Kuo, S. C and J. L. McGrath.
"Steps and fluctuations of Listeria monocytogenes during actin-based motility??."
Nature. 2000 Oct 26;407(6807):1026-9.
Steps of 5.4nm
5
Elastic Brownian Ratchets and Tethered Filaments
Images removed due to copyright considerations.
See Mogilner, A. and G. Oster.
"Force generation by actin polymerization II: the elastic ratchet and tethered filaments??."
Biophys J. 2003 Mar;84(3):1591-605.
Brownian:
Actin filament tips fluctuate
Some filaments are tethered
6
Actin Ruffles in Motile Cells
7
Supramolecular Springs
Energy stored in chemical bonds which act as “latches’
Regulated by Spasmin:
Calcium binding protein
Images removed due to copyright considerations.
See Mahadevan, L. and P. Matsudaira.
"Motility powered by supramolecular springs and ratchets."
Science. 2000 Apr 7;288(5463):95-100.
8
Horseshoe Crab Sperm
Uncoiling of an actin spring
(unlike the echinoderm
sperm - no polymerization!)
Images removed due to copyright considerations.
See Mahadevan, L. and P. Matsudaira.
"Motility powered by supramolecular springs and ratchets."
Science. 2000 Apr 7;288(5463):95-100.
9
Molecular Motors
? Molecules that convert chemical energy into mechanical force
? Motors are specialized for specific tasks:
cell division
cell movement
organelle transport
synthesis of ATP
? Most move unidirectionally along polymer filaments
? Coupled mechanical and chemical cycles (fuel)
10
Motor Types
Motor Track Functions
Myosin F-actin Cell crawling
Myosin II F-actin Muscle contraction
Cell division
Phagocytosis
Kinesin microtubule Organelle transport
Mitosis & meiosis
Dynein microtubule Flagella & cilia
Polymerases, ds and ssDNA Replication, Repair
Helicases Recombination
11
Muscle Anatomy
Muscle Types:
Skeletal: fast
Cardiac: fast
Smooth: slow
12
Sliding filament assay
Myosin Heads Walk Along Actin Filaments
Polar Biopolymer Molecules :
The Tracks Motor Proteins Walk Along
Myosin walks along Actin
G-Actin (globular) F-Actin (microfilaments)
- end
Image removed due to copyright considerations.
See [Lodish 4th ed.] Figure 18-2.
+ end
Diameter: 6-8 nm
Persistence length: 16 μm
Young’s modulus: 1.3-2.5 x 10
9
Pa
14
Myosin: the actin motor protein
All myosins have head, neck, and tail domains with distinct functions
Image removed due to copyright considerations.
See [Lodish 4th ed.] Figure 18-20.
Viewable online at the PubMed Bookshelf:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=Books
15
Figure 18-20
Myosin Types
Conventional Type II
muscle contraction
cytokinesis
cell adhesion, migration
Unconventional Types I, III-…
type I: cell migration
We will concentrate on type II, but other types
display similar mechanisms…
16
Skeletal muscle contains a regular array of actin
and myosin II: the sarcomere
Image removed due to copyright considerations.
See [Lodish 4th ed.] Figure 18-27.
Viewable online (Fig. 18-27b only) at the PubMed Bookshelf:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=Books.
Figure 18-27
17
Skeletal muscle contains a regular array of actin
and myosin
Image removed due to copyright considerations.
See [Lodish 4th ed.] Figure 18-27c.
Figure 18-27
18
Capping proteins stabilize the ends of actin thin
filaments in the sarcomere
Image removed due to copyright considerations.
See [Lodish 4th ed.] Figure 18-28.
Viewable online at the PubMed Bookshelf:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=mcb.figgrp.5204.
Figure 18-28
19
Thick and thin filaments slide past one another
during contraction
During contraction the myosin head initially
binds tightly the thin filament (actin) to form a
cross-bridge
Once in contact the head rapidly bends towards
Image removed due to
the center of the sarcomere during the power stroke
copyright considerations.
See [Lodish 4th ed.] Figure 18-29.
The thin filament is then displaced towards the
Viewable online at the PubMed Bookshelf:
center of the sarcomere by about 10 nm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
books/bv.fcgi?rid=mcb.figgrp.5208.
The head releases from the thin filament, reverts
back to the initial conformation and the cycle
repeats
The heads are only in contact with the filament
about 5% of the time
Continuous movement because several heads
are marching along the filament
20
Muscle Contraction
21
Conformational changes in the myosin head couple ATP
hydrolysis to movement
Figure 18-25
22
Sliding Filament Model
Huxley & Huxley 1954
Image removed due to copyright considerations.
See [Lodish 4th ed.] Figure 18-29.
Viewable online at the PubMed Bookshelf:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=mcb.figgrp.5208.
23
The Myosin ‘Power Stroke’
pre-stroke
Small conformational change
In head is amplified by swinging
movement of the neck.
Light chains increase
rigidity of the neck.
post- stroke
Images removed due to copyright considerations.
See Figures 4 and 6 in Geeves and Holmes.
"Structural mechanism of muscle contraction."
Annu Rev Biochem. 1999;68:687-728.
24
ATP: Cellular Fuel
Image removed due to copyright considerations.
Chemical bond diagram of ATP.
ATP Hydrolysis:
ATP + H
2
0 - > ADP + P
i
K
eq
= 4.9 x 10
5
Depends on conditions
Strongly favored
?Large activation barrier w/o a catalyst= stable fuel
?Free energy change at cellular conditions: -25 kT
25
Mechanochemical Coupling : Myosin II
Motor and no actin: low activity ~ 0.1 s
-1
M = motor
MD + P
T = ATP
M MT MDP
D = ADP
Rate limiting step
P = phosphate
A = actin
Motor and with actin: increased activity ~ 25 s
-1
MT MDP AMDP AMD AM AMT MT
Key ideas:
? release of P (chemical) is catalyzed by binding to actin (mechical)
? w/o ATP myosin bonds strongly to actin
? release of myosin (mechanical) is catalyzed by ATP binding (chemical)
26
The actin-myosin ATPase cycle
Allostery: release of P after MDP binds to actin creates a
highly strained AMD state that relaxes via a change
Diffusion to/ from
of configuration and may generate a power-stroke.
filament Myosin S1
Image removed
due to copyright
considerations.
ATP hydrolysis induces a recovery stroke.
ATP
binds to
Pi acts as spring “latch”
hydrolysis
filament
l = 10nm
Image removed
Image removed
due to copyright
Cycle ~ 50ms
due to copyright
ADP-Pi
ADP-bound,
considerations.
considerations.
released
bound
Image removed
P
i
pre-stroke
Power-stroke
P
i
ATP
release
from filament
ADP
Image removed
due to copyright
considerations.
due to copyright
considerations.
Actin filament
“Rigor” state
No ATP available – remains attached
27
Images adapted from
Vale and Milligan, Science 288, 88 (2000).
Mechanochemical Coupling : Myosin Power-Stroke
28
Tropomyosin and troponin regulate contraction in skeletal
muscle
Ca2+ influences the position of
TP & TN on the actin filament.
Image removed due to
copyright considerations.
Binding sites: closed open
29
Increasing the Working Stroke Distance in Myosin
Image removed due to copyright considerations.
Diagram with caption Figure 4.
Processive
J. Howard 1997
30
Assays to Study Motor Proteins in vitro
Image removed due to
copyright considerations.
31
Polar Biopolymer Molecules :
Microtubules
The Tracks Motor Proteins Walk Along
Image removed due to
copyright considerations.
Diameter: 24 nm
Persistence length: 60,000 μm
Young’s modulus: 1.9 x 10
9
Pa
32
The Role of Kinesin & Dyneins
Image removed due to
copyright considerations.
MTOC: Microtubule-organizing
center
Bidirectional transport of
organelles
33
Structure of Motor Proteins
Myosin Kinesin
Image removed due to
copyright considerations.
See [Lodish].
The head contains ATP
and filament binding sites.
34
Mechanochemical Coupling :Conventional Kinesin
Key Points:
-with ATP kinesin is bound tightly to microtubules
-unbinding of kinesin from microtubule
requires hydrolysis of ATP
- in the absence of microtubule kinesin dissociates
P quickly
-release of ADP from kinesin is catalyzed by binding to microtubule
- 2 heads coordinate movement
35
Hand-over-Hand Model for Conventional Kinesin
Image removed due to
copyright considerations.
http://www.current-opinion.com/jcel/mov1.mov
36
Release of trailing head (K1) is contingent on the binding
of the leading head (K2)…
Image removed due to
…binding of ATP to K1 catalyzes attachment of
copyright considerations.
K2 to microtubule…
…this catalyzes release of ADP from K2…
…which catalyzes detachment
of K1 from the microtubule…
…release of P from K1…
37
Schief & Howard 2001
Motor Proteins:
Power Strokes
Image removed due to copyright considerations.
38
Common Themes
? Filaments are polar and motor binding is stereospecific.
? This leads to movement in one direction (+ or -).
? Stall forces ~ few (6-10) pN
? Cyclic motors
? Nucleotides roles:
1. regulates attachment/detachment.
2. drives working/recovery strokes.
3. chemical steps are contingent on the completion of
mechanical steps.
39
Differences
Myosin II Conv. Kinesin
non-processive processive (~100 steps of more)
5-15 nm step sizes
slips
walks towards + end of
filament
found in large assemblies
‘rower’
8 nm
no slipping
walks towards -end of filament
works well alone or low #’s
porter
40
Motor Speeds (assemblies)
Motor type speed in vivo (nm/s) in vitro(nm/s) in vitro ATPase (s-1)
Myosin II (skeletal muscle) 6000 8000 20
Myosin II (smooth muscle) 200 250 1.2
Myosin V (vesicle transport) 200 350 5
Conv. Kinesin (axonal transp) 1800 840 44
Nkin (sec. Vesicle transp.) 800 1800 78
BimC/Eg5 (Mitosis/meisos) 18 60 2
Dyneins (cytoplasmic) -1100 -1250 2
Speed in vivo = cell/extracts, motion of motor relative to filament w/o a load. Positive values
Indicate movement toward positive end of filament.
Speed in vitro = purified motors at high ATP concentrations.
ATPase = max rate of hydrolysis per head per sec, measured at high ATP, filament concentrations.
41
Kinesin is attached during it’s rate limiting step
while myosin is detached during it’s rate limiting step-
ATP hydrolysis.
Kinesin
on
off
Myosin
on
off
While one myosin is dissociated
42
from the actin the others can
continue pushing (rowing)!
= 8 nm
~ 8 nm
~ 5 nm
= 36 nm
in skeletal muscle
Mechanical Models for Motor Proteins
Myosin
Kinesin
43
Common Themes for Molecular Motors
? ATP hydrolysis drives the motors.
? The motors walk along polar tracks (polymers).
? Type of motor fits the function: processive/non.
44