Imaging Myosin-X at the Single-Molecule Level Reveals a Novel Form of Motility in Filopodia
Although many proteins, receptors, and viruses are transported rearward along filopodia by retrograde actin flow[ 1 - 3 ], it is less clear how molecules move forward in filopodia. Myosin-X (Myo10) is an actin-based motor hypothesized to use its motor activity to move forward along actin filaments t...
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Published in | Current biology Vol. 19; no. 11; p. 967 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
23.04.2009
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Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Although many proteins, receptors, and viruses are transported rearward along filopodia by retrograde actin flow[
1
-
3
], it is less clear how molecules move forward in filopodia. Myosin-X (Myo10) is an actin-based motor hypothesized to use its motor activity to move forward along actin filaments to the tips of filopodia[
4
]. Here we use a sensitive total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy system to directly visualize the movements of GFP-Myo10. This reveals a novel form of motility at or near the single-molecule level in living cells wherein extremely faint particles of Myo10 move in a rapid and directed fashion towards the filopodial tip. These fast forward movements occur at ∼600 nm/s over distances of up to ∼10 μm and require Myo10 motor activity and actin filaments. As expected for imaging at the single-molecule level, the faint particles of GFP-Myo10 are diffraction-limited, have an intensity range similar to single GFP molecules, and exhibit stepwise bleaching. Faint particles of GFP-Myo5a can also move towards the filopodial tip, but at a slower characteristic velocity of ∼250 nm/s. Similar movements were not detected with GFP-Myo1a, indicating that not all myosins are capable of intrafilopodial motility. These data indicate the existence of a novel system of long-range transport based on the rapid movement of myosin molecules along filopodial actin filaments. |
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Bibliography: | Current address: Biology Department, Mount Holyoke College, 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075 The first two authors contributed equally to this work Current address: National Institutes of Health, NIDCD, Bethesda, MD 20892 |
ISSN: | 0960-9822 1879-0445 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.cub.2009.03.067 |