1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

Structural dynamics of myosin 5 during processive motion revealed by interferometric scattering microscopy

  1. Joanna Andrecka
  2. Jaime Ortega Arroyo
  3. Yasuharu Takagi
  4. Gabrielle de Wit
  5. Adam Fineberg
  6. Lachlan MacKinnon
  7. Gavin Young
  8. James R Sellers
  9. Philipp Kukura  Is a corresponding author
  1. University of Oxford, United Kingdom
  2. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, United States
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05413
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Cite this article
  1. Joanna Andrecka
  2. Jaime Ortega Arroyo
  3. Yasuharu Takagi
  4. Gabrielle de Wit
  5. Adam Fineberg
  6. Lachlan MacKinnon
  7. Gavin Young
  8. James R Sellers
  9. Philipp Kukura
(2015)
Structural dynamics of myosin 5 during processive motion revealed by interferometric scattering microscopy
eLife 4:e05413.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05413
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Abstract

Myosin 5a is a dual-headed molecular motor that transports cargo along actin filaments. By following the motion of individual heads with interferometric scattering microscopy at nm spatial and ms temporal precision we found that the detached head occupies a loosely fixed position to one side of actin from which it rebinds actin in a controlled and manner while executing a step. Improving the spatial precision to the sub-nm regime provided evidence for an angstrom-level structural transition in the motor domain associated with the power stroke. Simultaneous tracking of both heads revealed that consecutive steps follow identical paths to the same side of actin in a compass-like spinning motion demonstrating a symmetrical walking pattern. These results visualize many of the critical unknown aspects of the stepping mechanism of myosin 5 including head-head coordination, the origin of lever-arm motion and the spatiotemporal dynamics of the translocating head during individual steps.

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Author details

  1. Joanna Andrecka

    Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Jaime Ortega Arroyo

    Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Yasuharu Takagi

    Laboratory of Molecular Physiology, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Gabrielle de Wit

    Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  5. Adam Fineberg

    Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  6. Lachlan MacKinnon

    Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  7. Gavin Young

    Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  8. James R Sellers

    Laboratory of Molecular Physiology, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  9. Philipp Kukura

    Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
    For correspondence
    philipp.kukura@chem.ox.ac.uk
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Taekjip Ha, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, United States

Version history

  1. Received: November 13, 2014
  2. Accepted: March 5, 2015
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: March 6, 2015 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: April 9, 2015 (version 2)

Copyright

This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.

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  1. Joanna Andrecka
  2. Jaime Ortega Arroyo
  3. Yasuharu Takagi
  4. Gabrielle de Wit
  5. Adam Fineberg
  6. Lachlan MacKinnon
  7. Gavin Young
  8. James R Sellers
  9. Philipp Kukura
(2015)
Structural dynamics of myosin 5 during processive motion revealed by interferometric scattering microscopy
eLife 4:e05413.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05413

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