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Sharyn
Endow, Ph.D.
(Biology, Yale University)
Professor, Department of Cell Biology
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Research in my laboratory is on motor proteins and the mechanisms by which they function in the spindle to ensure normal chromosome distribution during cell division. Molecular motors are force-generating proteins that drive movements of the spindle and chromosomes in dividing cells. We are currently trying to understand the mechanism of motor function – how motors use ATP to produce force and movement in cells – and the contributions by motors to spindle and chromosome dynamics during division.
We are using an approach that combines molecular genetics with structural biology and biophysical methods to determine the basis of motor function. We focus on the kinesin spindle motor, Ncd, discovered in my laboratory, and its striking ‘backward’ or minus-end directed motility. Ncd is unusual in that it moves on microtubules in the opposite direction as kinesin-1, the founding member of the kinesin family.
By constructing chimeric Ncd-kinesin motor proteins, we identified residues required for the reversed movement of Ncd. We then mutated single amino acid residues and converted Ncd into a bidirectional motor that moves either towards the microtubule plus or minus end. Single-molecule laser-trap assays showed that the minus-end directionality of Ncd is due to a large conformational change that occurs when the motor binds to a microtubule.
We are using mutants to trap the motor in different structural states to visualize the conformational changes that occur in the motor as it hydrolyzes ATP and moves on microtubules. We reported a new crystal structure of Ncd that show a large rotation of the coiled-coil stalk – this was interpreted to represent a lever-like movement that amplifies smaller movements within the motor domain. Together with other changes in the motor domain, the stalk rotation is likely to explain the motor mechanism of function.
We are also studying the effects of Ncd on spindle and chromosome dynamics in live cells by transformation into Drosophila fused to GFP, the green fluorescent protein. High-resolution imaging and dynamic studies, including FRAP (fluorescence recovery after photobleaching), give rate constants for motor binding to the spindle and diffusion coefficients in live cells. |
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Email
endow001@mc.duke.edu
450 Sands Building, Box 3709
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, NC 27710
Telephone 919-684-4311 |
Selected
Publications
Hallen, M. A., Liang, Z.-Y. & Endow, S. A. 2011. Two-state displacement by the kinesin-14 Ncd stalk. Biophys. Chem. 154, 56-65. PMCID: PMC3080049. -PDF-
Liang, Z.-Y., Hallen, M. A. & Endow, S. A. 2009. Mature Drosophila meiosis I spindles comprise microtubules of mixed polarity. Curr. Biol. 19, 163-168. PMCID: PMC2701147. -PDF-
Hirose, K., Akimaru, E., Akiba,
T., Endow, S.A., and Amos, L.A. 2006. Large conformational changes
in a kinesin motor catalyzed by interaction wih microtubules.
Molecular Cell 23: 913-923. -PDF- SuppDataPDF
Skold, H.N., Komma, D.J., and Endow,
S.A. 2005. Assembly pathway of the anastral Drosophila oocyte
meiosis I spindle. J. Cell Sci. 118, 1745-1755. -PDF-
Higuchi, H., Bronner, C.E., Park, H-W and Endow,
S.A. 2004. Rapid double 8-nm steps by a kinesin mutant.
EMBO J. 23, 2993-2999 advance online publication 15
July 2004; doi: 10.1038/sj.emboj.7600306. -PDF-
Yun,
M., Zhang, X., Park, C-G, Park, H-W and Endow, S.A.
2001. A structural pathway for activation of the kinesin
motor ATPase. EMBO J. 20, 2611-2618. -PDF-
Endow, S. A. and Higuchi, H. 2000. A mutant of the motor
protein kinesin that moves in both directions on microtubules.
Nature 406, 913-916. -PDF-
Endow, SA: Determinants of molecular motor directionality.
Nature Cell Biology 1999; 1: 163-167. -PDF-
Endow SA, and Waligora KW: Determinants of kinesin motor
polarity. Science 1998; 281: 1200-2 -PDF-
Song H and Endow SA: 1998. Decoupling
of nucleotide- and microtubule-binding
sites in a kinesin mutant. Nature 396: 587-590. -PDF-
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