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Cytoplasmic dynein is a microtubule-based motor protein that transports intracellular cargo and performs various functions during cell division. We previously reported that Lis1 suppressed dynein motility on microtubules in an idling state. Recently, a model showed that Lis1 prevents the ATPase domain of dynein from transmitting a detachment signal to its microtubule-binding domain. However, conformational information on dynein is limited. We used electron microscopy to investigate the conformation of dynein and nucleotide-induced conformational changes on microtubules. The conformation of dynein differed depending on the presence or absence of a nucleotide. In the presence of the nucleotide ADP-vanadate, dynein displayed an extended form on microtubules (extended form), whereas in the absence of a nucleotide, dynein lay along microtubules (compact form). This conformational change reflects chemomechanical coupling in dynein walking on microtubules. We also found that Lis1 fixed the conformation of dynein in the compact form regardless of the nucleotide condition. Removal of the Lis1 dimerization motif abolished Lis1-dependent fixation of dynein in the compact form. This suggests that the idling state of dynein on microtubules induced by Lis1 occurs through the Lis1-dependent arrest of dynein chemomechanical coupling.

Although α-synuclein (αSyn) has been linked to Parkinson’s disease (PD), the mechanisms underlying the causative role in PD remain unclear. We previously proposed a model for a transportable microtubule (tMT), in which dynein is anchored to a short tMT by LIS1 followed by the kinesin-dependent anterograde transport; however the mechanisms that produce tMTs have not been determined. Our in vitro investigations of microtubule (MT) dynamics revealed that αSyn facilitates the formation of short MTs and preferentially binds to MTs carrying 14 protofilaments (pfs). Live-cell imaging showed that αSyn co-transported with dynein and mobile βIII-tubulin fragments in the anterograde transport. Furthermore, bi-directional axonal transports are severely affected in αSyn and γSyn depleted dorsal root ganglion neurons. SR-PALM analyses further revealed the fibrous co-localization of αSyn, dynein and βIII-tubulin in axons. More importantly, 14-pfs MTs have been found in rat femoral nerve tissue, and they increased approximately 19 fold the control in quantify upon nerve ligation, indicating the unconventional MTs are mobile. Our findings indicate that αSyn facilitates to form short, mobile tMTs that play an important role in the axonal transport. This unexpected and intriguing discovery related to axonal transport provides new insight on the pathogenesis of PD.

Outer arm dynein (OAD) in cilia and flagella contains two to three nonidentical heavy chains (HCs) that possess motor activity. In Chlamydomonas, flagellar OAD contains three HCs, alpha-, beta-, and gamma-HCs, each appearing to have a distinct role. To determine the precise molecular mechanism of their function, cross-sectional electron micrographs of wild-type and single HC-disruption mutants were compared and statistically analyzed. While the alpha-HC mutant displayed an OAD of lower density, which was attributed to a lack of alpha-HC, the OAD of beta- and gamma-HC mutants not only lacked the corresponding HC, but was also significantly affected in its structure, particularly with respect to the localization of alpha-HC. The lack of beta-HC induced mislocalization of alpha-HC, while a disruption of the gamma-HC gene resulted in the synchronized movement of alpha-HC and beta-HC in the manners for stacking. Interestingly, using cryo-electron microscopy, purified OADs were typically observed consisting of two stacked heads and an independent single head, which presumably corresponded to gamma-HC. This conformation is different from previous reports in which the three HCs displayed a stacked form in flagella observed by cryo-electron tomography and a bouquet structure on mica in deep-etch replica images. These results suggest that gamma-HC supports the tight stacking arrangement of inter or intra alpha-/beta-HC to facilitate the proper functioning of OAD.

The outer dynein arm of Chlamydomonas flagella contains three heavy chains (α, β, and γ), each of which exhibits motor activity. How they assemble and cooperate is of considerable interest. Here we report the isolation of a novel mutant, oda2 - t , whose γ heavy chain is truncated at about 30% of the sequence. While the previously isolated γ chain mutant oda2 lacks the entire outer arm, oda2 - t retains outer arms that contain α and β heavy chains, suggesting that the N-terminal sequence (corresponding to the tail region) is necessary and sufficient for stable outer-arm assembly. Thin-section electron microscopy and image analysis localize the γ heavy chain to a basal region of the outer-arm image in the axonemal cross section. The motility of oda2 - t is lower than that of the wild type and oda11 (lacking the α heavy chain) but higher than that of oda2 and oda4 - s7 (lacking the motor domain of the β heavy chain). Thus, the outer-arm dynein lacking the γ heavy-chain motor domain is partially functional. The availability of mutants lacking individual heavy chains should greatly facilitate studies on the structure and function of the outer-arm dynein.

Ciliary and flagellar axonemes contain multiple inner arm dyneins of which the functional difference is largely unknown. In this study, a Chlamydomonas mutant, ida9, lacking inner arm dynein c was isolated and shown to carry a mutation in the DHC9 dynein heavy chain gene. The cDNA sequence of DHC9 was determined, and its information was used to show that >80% of it is lost in the mutant. Electron microscopy and image analysis showed that the ida9 axoneme lacked electron density near the base of the S2 radial spoke, indicating that dynein c localizes to this site. The mutant ida9 swam only slightly slower than the wild type in normal media. However, swimming velocity was greatly reduced when medium viscosity was modestly increased. Thus, dynein c in wild type axonemes must produce a significant force when flagella are beating in viscous media. Because motility analyses in vitro have shown that dynein c is the fastest among all the inner arm dyneins, we can regard this dynein as a fast yet powerful motor.

Dynein is a motor protein that hydrolyses ATP and moves toward the minus end of a microtubule (MT). A dynein molecule has one to three heavy chains, each consisting of three domains: a head, a stalk and a tail. ATP is bound and hydrolysed in the head, which has a ring-like structure composed of 6 AAA+ domains. The stalk is an antiparallel coiled-coil, 10–15 nm long, and has a nucleotide-dependent MT-binding domain at the tip (1) (Fig. 1). It has been proposed that the nucleotide-dependent binding affinity of the tubulin-binding site at the tip of the stalk is modulated by the two alpha helices in the coiled-coil sliding over each other (2). However, it is not known how a dynein molecule moves along a microtubule (MT).Copyright © 2009 by ASME

Previous electron microscopy (EM) and FRET analyses have shown that the tail of dynein swings with respect to the head and the stalk between the two nucleotide states that are thought to correspond to the pre- and post-powerstroke states (Burgess et al., 2003; Kon et al., 2005). However, how these structural changes observed in isolated dynein molecules are related to the minus-end-directed movement along a microtubule has not been clear. To understand how dynein changes with respect to microtubules, we studied the structures of sea urchin, outer-arm dynein bound to microtubules in the two nucleotide states. By our new method, ‘cryo-positive stain EM’, the microtubule-bound stalks, as well as the ring-like heads and curved tails, were clearly observed.In the no nucleotide state (with apyrase; the post-powerstroke state), the majority of dynein images showed two rings superimposed, suggesting close association of the two heads. When ATP and vanadate were added (the ADP•Vi, pre-powerstroke state), one of the heads moved with respect to the other. There was no detectable difference in the orientation of the stalks between the two nucleotide states; the stalks always pointed at the same angle towards the minus end of the microtubule to which they were bound (Ueno et al., 2008). The results disagree with models in which the stalk rotates on the microtubule and acts as a lever arm to amplify structural changes.Rotation of the tail relative to the head would change the distance between the stalk tip and the tail-microtubule attachment point. In fact, some ADP•Vi images clearly showed the tail in a more extended state. Based on these results, we propose a new model, in which dynein pulls a microtubule by shortening the distance between its head/stalk and the tail-microtubule attachment, without rotating the stalk.