SGD Paper 
Hildebrandt ER, et al. (2006) Homotetrameric form of Cin8p, a Saccharomyces cerevisiae kinesin-5 motor, is essential for its in vivo function. J Biol Chem 281(36):26004-13
Abstract: Kinesin-5 motor proteins are evolutionarily conserved and perform essential roles in mitotic spindle assembly and spindle elongation during anaphase. Previous studies demonstrated a specialized homotetrameric structure with two pairs of catalytic domains, one at each end of a dumbbell shaped molecule. This suggests that they perform their spindle roles by crosslinking and sliding antiparallel spindle microtubules. However, the exact kinesin-5 sequence elements that are important for formation of the tetrameric complexes have not yet been identified. In addition, it has not been demonstrated that the homotetrameric form of these proteins is essential for their biological functions. Thus, we investigated a series of S. cerevisiae Cin8p truncations and internal deletions, in order to identify structural elements in the Cin8p sequence that are required for Cin8p functionality, spindle localization and multimerization. We found that all variants of Cin8p that are functional in vivo form tetrameric complexes. The first coiled-coil domain in Cin8p's stalk, a feature that is shared by all kinesin-5 homologues, is required for its dimerization, and sequences in the last part of the stalk, specifically those likely involved in coiled-coil formation, are required for Cin8p tetramerization. We also found that dimeric forms of Cin8p which are non-functional in vivo can nonetheless bind to microtubules. These findings suggest that binding of microtubules is not sufficient for the functionality of Cin8p and that microtubule crosslinking by the tetrameric complex is essential for Cin8p mitotic functions.
| Status: Published | Type: Journal Article | PubMed ID: 16829678 |
Topics addressed in this paper
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