Current Research Methods Associated with the Cytoskeleton and Motor Proteins

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Guest Editors

Zhen-Yu She

Fujian Medical University, The School of Basic Medical Sciences, Department of Cell Biology and Genetics

Dr. Zhen-Yu She is a lecturer of cell biology at Fujian Medical University. He received his PhD in cell biology from Zhejiang University in 2017, where he studied the mechanisms of kinesin-14 KIFC1 in spindle organization during mitosis. Since 2017, he is a Principal Investigator in the Cytoskeleton Lab at the School of Basic Medical Sciences at Fujian Medical University. He has worked in the field of kinesin motors and cell division for 8 years. His research focuses on the roles and mechanisms of kinesin motors in spindle assembly and chromosome segregation in cell division. Recently, his laboratory is working on detailed mechanisms of kinesin-7 CENP-E in spindle assembly and chromosome alignment in spermatocytes using multiple molecular, genetic, and live-cell imaging methods.

YaLan Wei

Fujian Provincial Maternity and Children’s Hospital, Medical Research Center

Mrs. Wei is a technician in the Medical Research Center of Fujian Provincial Maternity and Children’s Hospital. She has many years of research experience in reproductive biology, especially in male spermatogenesis and kinesin functions. Mrs. Wei obtained her master’s degree in cell biology from Zhejiang University, China. Her current research interest is mainly to explore the functions of kinesin motors in acrosome formation and nuclear shaping and to study the mechanisms of KIFC1 involved in DNA replication during the cell cycle.

Meng-Fei Xu

Fujian Medical University, The School of Basic Medical Sciences, Department of Cell Biology and Genetics

Meng-Fei Xu obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Biotechnology from the Henan University of Technology in 2020. Since 2020, she studies at The School of Basic Medical Sciences at Fujian Medical University. Her research is mainly focused on the localization of kinesin motors, microtubule motility, and the roles of kinesins in meiosis. She has mastered a series of important biochemical and molecular methods, including RNA interference and CRISPR-Cas9 technologies, Western Blot, immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry. At present, her main research interest is in the roles of kinesin motors in chromosome alignment and spindle organization during meiosis.

Collection Overview

The cytoskeleton consists of three major types of structural proteins, including microtubules, actin filaments and intermediate filaments, which is essential for organelle transport, cell motility and cellular functions. Motor proteins are molecular motors that generate force and move along the cytoplasm of cells with the help of ATP hydrolysis. Microtubule-based motors, including kinesin and dynein, move toward the plus or minus ends of microtubules to facilitate vesicle/cargo transport, organelle movement, spindle assembly and chromosome alignment. Actin-based molecular motors, the myosin superfamily, generate force and motility along actin filaments for membrane/vesicle transport, muscle contraction, cell shape and polarity, cell division and signaling transduction. Intermediate filaments are key components of the cytoplasmic and nuclear cytoskeletons. In addition, microtubule-associated proteins and actin binding proteins are also critical for the organization and regulation of the cytoskeleton. Defects in molecular motors or their partner proteins are the causes of many human diseases and developmental disorders. This methods collection proposes to include articles on all the research methods associated with motor proteins, including kinesin, dynein, myosin, microtubule/actin- associated proteins and their interacting partners. A series of important techniques can be used to study the molecular dynamics and kinetics of motor proteins both in vitro and in vivo. Thus, the proposed collection will feature video articles focused on imaging motor proteins, studying the function of motor proteins, characterizing motor proteins and their interactors, purification of motor proteins etc. These techniques will include, but are not limited to, the following: cell culture and models, the construction of mouse models, in vitro experimental models, live cell imaging, fluorescent protein- tagged protein assays, FRAP and FRET experiments, gene editing experiments, protein-protein interactions, pull down experiments, experiments demonstrating microtubule dynamics or actin filament dynamics, and high-resolution microscopy etc.