Trends in Neurosciences
Volume 24, Issue 11, 1 November 2001, Pages 644-648
Journal home page for Trends in Neurosciences

Opinion
Kinesin, dynein and neurofilament transport

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-2236(00)01919-6Get rights and content

Abstract

The recent demonstration that the fast axonal transport motors kinesin and dynein participate in axonal transport of neurofilaments – known to undergo slow transport –supports and extends recent studies indicating that some neurofilaments exhibit alternating bursts of fast axonal transport interspersed with periods of non-motility. In addition, these findings unify both certain aspects of axonal transport and neurofilament biology. We discuss these data herein in the context of both older and more recent studies of neurofilament dynamics.

Section snippets

Phosphorylation regulates the association of NFs with kinesin

If the anterograde-specific motor protein kinesin mediates anterograde NF axonal transport, why has the observation of an association between kinesin and NFs been so elusive 14, 15? Recent data indicate that phosphorylation of NFs, the most common post-translational modification of NFs, which occurs on the vast majority of axonal NF subunits, results in the dissociation of NFs from kinesin 9. Only poorly phosphorylated NF subunits were recovered within a MT motor protein preparation rich in

Some NF subunits undergo kinesin-dependent transport in non-filamentous forms

The dependence of NFs on MTs for transport in culture systems 29 suggests that they either marched along MTs using a MT-based motor such as kinesin, or perhaps traveled as cargo of moving MTs (which themselves require a motor protein). However, reproducible kinesin immunoreactivity was not observed to be associated with NFs (Ref. 28). However, a ground-breaking report from the Goldman laboratory demonstrated that punctate structures consisting of an, as yet, unidentified configuration of

Dynein and bi-directional transport of NFs

Although not as prominent as anterograde transport, retrograde NF subunit transport has also been documented. Wang and co-workers 12 and Roy and co-workers 13 observed some NFs that moved predominantly in a retrograde direction with occasional anterograde excursions, whereas others moved anterogradely with interspersed retrograde motions. Similarly, Yabe et al.8 noted that although the majority of punctate NF precursors moved in an anterograde direction, others exhibited no net motion, and yet

Conclusions and future directions

Participation of known fast transport motors in NF transport, coupled with the demonstration that slow transport of NFs consists of alternating episodes of rapid transport and pauses, provides experimental evidence for the previous hypothesis that a single transport system could mediate a wide range of transport rates 5. Recent studies demonstrate that motor proteins also function in maintaining cytoskeletal integrity by cross-linking polymers 40; it therefore remains possible that additional

References (40)

  • A. Brown

    Slow axonal transport: stop and go traffic in the axon

    Nat. Rev. Mol. Biol.

    (2000)
  • S. Ochs

    A unitary concept of axoplasmic transport based on the transport filament hypothesis

  • F.J. Ahmad

    Cytoplasmic dynein and dynactin are required for the transport of micro-tubules into the axon

    J. Cell Biol.

    (1998)
  • J.F. Dillman

    Functional analysis of dynactin and cytoplasmic dynein in slow axonal transport

    Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A.

    (1996)
  • J.T. Yabe

    Kinesin-mediated transport of neurofilament protein oligmers

    J. Cell Sci.

    (1999)
  • J.T. Yabe

    Phospho-dependent association of neurofilament proteins with kinesin in situ

    Cell Motil. Cytoskel.

    (2000)
  • J.T. Yabe

    The predominant form in which neurofilament subunits undergo axonal transport varies during axonal initiation, elongation and maturation

    Cell Motil. Cytoskel.

    (2001)
  • J.V. Shah

    Bidirectional translocation of neurofilaments along microtubules mediated in part by dynein/dynactin

    Mol. Biol. Cell

    (2000)
  • L. Wang

    Rapid movements of axonal neurofilaments interrupted by prolonged pauses

    Nat. Cell Biol.

    (2000)
  • S. Roy

    Neurofilaments are transported rapidly but intermittently in axons: Implications for slow axonal transport

    J. Neurosci.

    (2000)
  • Cited by (60)

    • Artificial intelligence in precision medicine

      2023, A Handbook of Artificial Intelligence in Drug Delivery
    • Cranial irradiation-induced impairment of axonal transport and sexual function in male rats and imaging of the olfactory pathway by MRI

      2022, NeuroToxicology
      Citation Excerpt :

      We determined that AT rate deficits are associated with motor proteins and energy metabolism in RIBI. AT along microtubules occurs in two directions, namely, anterograde transport, mediated by kinesins, and retrograde transport, mediated by dynein and retrograde kinesins (Shea and Flanagan, 2001; Hirokawa and Takemura, 2005). Kinesin-1, kinesin-2 and kinesin-3 play key roles in AT (Maday et al., 2014; Hirokawa et al., 2010).

    • Psychosine induces the dephosphorylation of neurofilaments by deregulation of PP1 and PP2A phosphatases

      2012, Neurobiology of Disease
      Citation Excerpt :

      The reason for the lower abundance of NF-M in the Twitcher sciatic nerves, without change in the corresponding gene transcript, remains unclear. NFs are accumulated in the axon by means of molecular motor-assisted transport (Shea and Flanagan, 2001; Theiss et al., 2005; Wagner et al., 2004). Defects in motility mechanisms may hamper their axonal localization and hence contribute to abnormal calibers (Roy et al., 2000; Shah et al., 2000; Theiss et al., 2005; Wagner et al., 2004; Yabe et al., 1999).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text