Advanced search
121
Views
3
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Commentary

Watching the walk: Observing chemo‐mechanical coupling in a processive myosin motor

&
Pages 67-70
Received 12 Feb 2009
Accepted 16 Feb 2009
Published online: 07 Sep 2010

Molecular motors are cellular nanomachines that convert the energy from nucleotide binding, hydrolysis, and product release into mechanical work. Because molecular motors contribute to fundamental processes in all living organisms, including genome replication, gene transcription, protein synthesis, organelle transport, and cell division, understanding how the chemical (ATP utilization) and mechanical (motility) cycles are linked is of fundamental importance. A recent study reports the direct visualization of simultaneous nucleotide binding and mechanical displacement of a single myosin 5a molecule, a processive molecular motor protein that takes successive ∼36‐nm steps along actin filaments of the cytoskeleton. This new work demonstrates an exciting advance in single‐molecule enzymology and advances our understanding of the link between chemical catalysis and mechanical work in molecular motors, particularly those that operate under internal and external loads.

 

Related research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.