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Published online September 10, 2007
doi:10.1083/jcb.200702074
The Journal of Cell Biology, Vol. 178, No. 6, 1081-1091
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $30.00
© 2007 Myers et al.
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Article

 Kinesin-5 regulates the growth of the axon by acting as a brake on its microtubule array

Kenneth A. Myers and Peter W. Baas

Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104

Correspondence to Peter W. Baas: pbaas{at}drexelmed.edu

Kinesin-5 is a homotetrameric motor protein that interacts with adjacent microtubules in the mitotic spindle. Kinesin-5 is also highly expressed in developing postmitotic neurons. Axons of cultured neurons experimentally depleted of kinesin-5 grow up to five times longer than controls and display more branches. The faster growth rates are accompanied by a doubling of the frequency of transport of short microtubules, suggesting a major role for kinesin-5 in the balance of motor-driven forces on the axonal microtubule array. Live-cell imaging reveals that the effects on axonal length of kinesin-5 depletion are caused partly by a lower propensity of the axon and newly forming branches to undergo bouts of retraction. Overexpression of wild-type kinesin-5, but not a rigor mutant of kinesin-5, has the inverse effect on axonal length. These results indicate that kinesin-5 imposes restrictions on the growth of the axon and does so at least in part by generating forces on the axonal microtubule array.

Abbreviations used in this paper: DIC, differential interference contrast; PDL, poly-D-lysine.


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