47 / 79
Engineering Approaches to Biomolecular Motors: From in vitro to in vivo Poster Abstracts
42
7-POS
Board 7
Engineering Structural Dynamic Mechanisms in Molecular Motors and Switches
Xin-Qiu Yao, Guido Scarabelli,
Barry J. Grant
,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Molecular motors and switches lie at the heart of key biological processes, from the division and
growth of cells to the muscular movement of organisms. Our approach to studying these
fascinating nanomachines couples bioinformatics, molecular simulations and experimental
protein engineering. Here we describe our most recent results that exemplify the power of this
approach when applied across evolutionary related motors and switches. This includes:
dissection of allosteric mechanisms in G protein switches, prediction and experimental
engineering of the first constitutively active heterotrimeric G protein, computational and
experimental dissection of microtubule-kinesin motor interactions, and the rational modulation
of the key molecular motor property of processive motility - the ability of an individual motor to
take multiple steps along its microtubule filament.
Software and other material related to this work can be found at:
http://thegrantlab.org/Selected References:
1. Yao, X. et al. J Biol Chem. 291, 4742-4753 (2016).
2. Scarabelli, G et al. Biophys J. 109, 1537–1540 (2015).
3. Skjærven, L. et al. BMC Bioinformatics. 15, 399, (2014).
4. Scarabelli G, Grant BJ. Biophys J.107, 2204-13, (2014)
5. Scarabelli G, Grant BJ. PLoS Comp Biol. 9, e1003329, (2013)
6. Yao XQ, Grant BJ. Biophys J. 105, L08-10, (2013).