2017/06/01 by Andrew T. Lombardo, Shane R. Nelson, M. Yusuf Ali +4 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #Cardiomyopathy and Myosin Studies #Cellular Mechanics and Interactions #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/ncomms15692
openalex publication_date 2017/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Intracellular cargo transport relies on myosin Va molecular motor ensembles to travel along the cell's three-dimensional (3D) highway of actin filaments. At actin filament intersections, the intersecting filament is a structural barrier to and an alternate track for directed cargo transport. Here we use 3D super-resolution fluorescence imaging to determine the directional outcome (that is, continues straight, turns or terminates) for an ∼10 motor ensemble transporting a 350 nm lipid-bound cargo that encounters a suspended 3D actin filament intersection in vitro. Motor-cargo complexes that interact with the intersecting filament go straight through the intersection 62% of the time, nearly twice that for turning. To explain this, we develop an in silico model, supported by optical trapping data, suggesting that the motors' diffusive movements on the vesicle surface and the extent of their engagement with the two intersecting actin tracks biases the motor-cargo complex on average to go straight through the intersection.