Ferdos Abid Ali

Abstract Cellular cargos move bidirectionally on microtubules due to the presence of opposite polarity motors dynein and kinesin. Many studies show these motors are co-dependent, whereby one requires the activity of the other, although the mechanism is unknown. Here, using in vitro motility assays, we show that the kinesin-3 KIF1C acts both as an activator and a processivity factor for dynein.

Ciliary motors locked closed by Shulin Motile cilia and flagella are vital cellular organelles with functions that include setting up the left-right body axis, clearing airways of mucus, and driving single-cell movements. Cilia beating is powered by arrays of dynein motors, the key force generators being the outer dynein arm (ODA) complexes. Using the protozoan Tetrahymena, Mali et al.

The initiation of eukaryotic DNA replication occurs in two discrete stages1: first, the minichromosome maintenance (MCM) complex assembles as a head-to-head double hexamer that encircles duplex replication origin DNA during G1 phase; then, ‘firing factors’ convert each double hexamer into two active Cdc45–MCM–GINS helicases (CMG) during S phase.