Motor myosin V caught on video: Foot stomping in biology

Filming Biomolecular Processes by High-Speed Atomic Force Microscopy

“…Nils Walter predicted as follows: “In a decade or two from now, each static structure from X-ray crystallography in our biochemistry textbooks may be accompanied by a dynamic video of the same biopolymer in actual biological action.” 352 Thus far, we have videos of only four proteins that can be placed in such textbooks: bR, 43,48 myosin V, 47 F 1 -ATPase, 51 and P2X 4 R. 36 In other HS-AFM imaging studies conducted so far, protein structures are not well resolved (for example, cellulase, 56 Ca 2+ pump, 49 NMDA receptor, 60 restriction enzymes 30,39,53 ), or diffusion and interaction processes of proteins are imaged instead of biological actions while their structures are resolved (for example, c-rings, 38 OmpF, 58 and aquaporin-0 59,70 ). There are countless proteins that are interesting to be investigated using HS-AFM: condensin assembling chromatins into a chromosome, helicase unwinding a double-stranded DNA, RecBCD unwinding a double-stranded DNA and digesting the resulting single strands, proteasomes digesting polyubiquitinated proteins, E3 ubiquitin ligase self-ubiquitinating or ubiquitinating substrate proteins, dynein moving on microtubules, AAA proteins disaggregating aggregated proteins, ABC transporters transporting substrates, dynamin squeezing membrane tubes, protein transport apparatuses transporting proteins, MreB and ParM in polymerization, many channel proteins opening and closing their channels during gating, DNA polymerase synthesizing a complementary DNA strand, and ribosome synthesizing a polypeptide.…”

“…Nils Walter predicted as follows: “In a decade or two from now, each static structure from X-ray crystallography in our biochemistry textbooks may be accompanied by a dynamic video of the same biopolymer in actual biological action.” Thus far, we have videos of only four proteins that can be placed in such textbooks: bR, , myosin V, F 1 -ATPase, and P2X 4 R . In other HS-AFM imaging studies conducted so far, protein structures are not well resolved (for example, cellulase, Ca 2+ pump, NMDA receptor, restriction enzymes ,, ), or diffusion and interaction processes of proteins are imaged instead of biological actions while their structures are resolved (for example, c-rings, OmpF, and aquaporin-0 , ).…”