TY - JOUR TI - Kinesin-1 regulates dendrite microtubule polarity in Caenorhabditis elegans AU - Yan, Jing AU - Chao, Dan L AU - Toba, Shiori AU - Koyasako, Kotaro AU - Yasunaga, Takuo AU - Hirotsune, Shinji AU - Shen, Kang A2 - Polleux, Franck VL - 2 PY - 2013 DA - 2013/03/06 SP - e00133 C1 - eLife 2013;2:e00133 DO - 10.7554/eLife.00133 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00133 AB - In neurons, microtubules (MTs) span the length of both axons and dendrites, and the molecular motors use these intracellular ‘highways' to transport diverse cargo to the appropriate subcellular locations. Whereas axonal MTs are organized such that the plus-end is oriented out from the cell body, dendrites exhibit a mixed MTs polarity containing both minus-end-out and plus-end-out MTs. The molecular mechanisms underlying this differential organization, as well as its functional significance, are unknown. Here, we show that kinesin-1 is critical in establishing the characteristic minus-end-out MT organization of the dendrite in vivo. In unc-116 (kinesin-1/kinesin heavy chain) mutants, the dendritic MTs adopt an axonal-like plus-end-out organization. Kinesin-1 protein is able to cross-link anti-paralleled MTs in vitro. We propose that kinesin-1 regulates the dendrite MT polarity through directly gliding the plus-end-out MTs out of the dendrite using both the motor domain and the C-terminal MT-binding domain. KW - polarity KW - cytoskeleton KW - kinesin-1 JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -