Cell News—Molecular teamwork makes dynein stronger

Photo from U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Team tug-of-war. Photo from U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

The Olympics isn’t the only place where teams are competing to be the strongest. In cells a molecular tug-of-war pulls cargo along microtubule tracks, and kinesin is thought to be the strongest motor protein, producing 6 pN of force. The motor protein dynein acts in the opposite direction, but with only 1.5. pN of force. So it was thought that many dyneins were needed to counteract the actions of kinesin. But a new study by ASCB members Vladislav Belyy, Ahmet Yildiz, and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, shows that dynein teams up with dynactin and Bicaudal-D2 to increase dynein’s force to 4.3 pN, enough to resist a single kinesin molecules tug.

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