Proteins

Kinesins are a group of related molecular motors that utilize the energy of ATP hydrolysis to transport cargo such as chromosomes and vesicles along microtubule tracks. Functionally kinesins can be divided into two major groups, those involved in vesicle transport and membrane organization and those involved in mitosis. The Cytoskeleton Motor Werks™ range of products provides a comprehensive line of motor proteins , antibodies and assays that aid motor protein research.

 

Cytoskeleton offers a colorimetric ATPase assay (Cat. # BK053) which measures microtubule (MT) activated kinesin motor ATPase activity. The simplicity of the assay lies in the fact that it uses a single step malachite based detection system and pre-formed MTs that require no preparation prior to the assay (Cat. # MT002). The rigorously quality controlled MTs also account for high assay reproducibility. Kinesin motors are available separately in mg quantities and pre-formed MTs are also available separately in 4 x 500 µg, 1 x 10 mg and bulk sizes. In addition to mitotic motor proteins e.g. Eg5 and CenPE, we provide several non-mitotic (vesicle transport) motors e.g. KIF1C and KIF3C. These are suitable as controls in secondary screens such as Cat. # BK060. The panel of kinesins available are representative of the major classes of kinesin proteins. For more details click on the Document tab above to see the datasheet.

 

Motor proteins are in the large family of ATP binding proteins, which also includes kinases and DNA polymerases among others. Well characterized ATP analog libraries can therefore be used as a starting point for discovering inhibitors of the kinesin ATPase proteins. Such a familial approach to drug discovery promises to be efficient and highly cost effective yielding high quality hits. More information can be found in a review of the use of ATP analog libraries (Chene, P. Expert Opin. Ther. Targets (2003) 7: 453-461).

motor-proteins

Cytoskeleton's motor protein products have been cited hundreds of times over the past 18 years. A select few are described here, for more citations on individual products please use the "Citations" tab on each individual product page.

 

Heavy meromyosin protein  (Cat. # MH01)

Li, Y., Lin, J. L., Reiter, R. S., Daniels, K., Soll, D. R. and Lin, J. J. (2004). Caldesmon mutant defective in Ca2+-calmodulin binding interferes with assembly of stress fibers and affects cell morphology, growth and motility. J. Cell Sci. 117, 3593-3604.
Kontrogianni-Konstantopoulos, A., Huang, S. C. and Benz, E. J., Jr. (2000). A nonerythroid isoform of protein 4.1R interacts with components of the contractile apparatus in skeletal myofibers. Mol. Biol. Cell 11, 3805-3817.

Myosin II protein: rabbit skeletal muscle  (Cat. # MY02)

Harris, E. S., Li, F. and Higgs, H. N. (2004). The mouse formin, FRLα, slows actin filament barbed end elongation, competes with capping protein, accelerates polymerization from monomers, and severs filaments. J. Biol. Chem. 279, 20076-20087.
Gallo, G., Yee, H. F., Jr. and Letourneau, P. C. (2002). Actin turnover is required to prevent axon retraction driven by endogenous actomyosin contractility. J. Cell Biol. 158, 1219-1228.

BimC kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: A. nidulans  (Cat. # BM01)

Funk, C. J., Davis, A. S., Hopkins, J. A. and Middleton, K. M. (2004). Development of high-throughput screens for discovery of kinesin adenosine triphosphatase modulators. Anal. Biochem. 329, 68-76.
 
 

CENP-E kinesin motor domain protein: GSt tagged:  Homo sapiens recombinant  (Cat. # CP01)

Funk, C. J., Davis, A. S., Hopkins, J. A. and Middleton, K. M. (2004). Development of high-throughput screens for discovery of kinesin adenosine triphosphatase modulators. Anal. Biochem. 329, 68-76.
 
 

Chromokinesin kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant  (Cat. # CR01)

Funk, C. J., Davis, A. S., Hopkins, J. A. and Middleton, K. M. (2004). Development of high-throughput screens for discovery of kinesin adenosine triphosphatase modulators. Anal. Biochem. 329, 68-76.
 
 

Eg5 kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant  (Cat. # EG01)

Funk, C. J., Davis, A. S., Hopkins, J. A. and Middleton, K. M. (2004). Development of high-throughput screens for discovery of kinesin adenosine triphosphatase modulators. Anal. Biochem. 329, 68-76.
Borysov et al., 2011. Alzheimer A-beta disrupts the mitotic spindle and directly inhibits mitotic microtubule motors. Cell Cycle. 10, 1-14.
 

Eg5 homolog kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Aspergillus fumigatis recombinant  (Cat. # EG02)

Funk, C. J., Davis, A. S., Hopkins, J. A. and Middleton, K. M. (2004). Development of high-throughput screens for discovery of kinesin adenosine triphosphatase modulators. Anal. Biochem. 329, 68-76.
 
 

KIFC3 kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant  (Cat. # KC01)

Funk, C. J., Davis, A. S., Hopkins, J. A. and Middleton, K. M. (2004). Development of high-throughput screens for discovery of kinesin adenosine triphosphatase modulators. Anal. Biochem. 329, 68-76.
 
 

KIF3C kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant  (Cat. # KF01)

Funk, C. J., Davis, A. S., Hopkins, J. A. and Middleton, K. M. (2004). Development of high-throughput screens for discovery of kinesin adenosine triphosphatase modulators. Anal. Biochem. 329, 68-76.
Grigoryan et al., 2009. Covalent binding of the organophosphorus agent FP-biotin to tyrosine in eight proteins that have no active site serine. Chem. Biol. Interact. 180, 492-498.
 

Kinesin heavy chain motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant  (Cat. # KR01)

Funk, C. J., Davis, A. S., Hopkins, J. A. and Middleton, K. M. (2004). Development of high-throughput screens for discovery of kinesin adenosine triphosphatase modulators. Anal. Biochem. 329, 68-76.

MCAK kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant  (Cat. # MK01)

Funk, C. J., Davis, A. S., Hopkins, J. A. and Middleton, K. M. (2004). Development of high-throughput screens for discovery of kinesin adenosine triphosphatase modulators. Anal. Biochem. 329, 68-76.
Borysov et al., 2011. Alzheimer A-beta disrupts the mitotic spindle and directly inhibits mitotic microtubule motors. Cell Cycle. 10, 1-14.

MKLP kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant (Cat. # MP01)

Funk, C. J., Davis, A. S., Hopkins, J. A. and Middleton, K. M. (2004). Development of high-throughput screens for discovery of kinesin adenosine triphosphatase modulators. Anal. Biochem. 329, 68-76.

Question 1:  What is a good control compound for inhibiting kinesin motor proteins?

Answer 1:  Unfortunately, only a limited number of kinesin inhibitors exist.  A general ATP-site inhibitor can be a non-hydrolyzable ATP analog.  These give excellent inhibition as presented in Funk et al., 2004 (Development of high-throughput screens for discovery of kinesin adenosine triphosphatase modulators. Anal Biochem. 329, 68-76).  Another well-utilized inhibitor is monastrol which inhibits Eg5.  Monastrol is a reversible, cell-permeable, non-tubulin interacting inhibitor of the mitotic kinesin Eg5 motor protein.  In some situations the antibodies to the motor proteins can be used to inhibit motor functions.  This would need to be determined empirically.

 

Question 2:  Do you sell any full length kinesins or ones that have microtubule motility?

 Answer 2: Unfortunately, we do not sell any full length kinesins.  However, we sell many purified kinesin motor domain proteins, including Cat. # CP01(CENP-E), CR01 (Chromokinesin), EG01(Eg5), BM01 (Eg5 homolog BimC from A. nidulans), EG02 (Eg5 homolog BimC from A. fumigatus), KC01 (KIFC3), KF01 (KIF3C), KR01 (kinesin heavy chain), MK01 (MCAK) and MP01 (MKLP).  For microtubule motility studies, we recommend kinesin heavy chain motor domain protein (Cat. # KR01).  We offer this motor protein, rhodamine-labeled tubulin, unlabeled tubulin, antifade solution, ATP (Cat. # BSA04-001), microtubule cushion buffer, general tubulin buffer (Cat. # BST01-001), blocking solution, chamber wash buffer, kinesin buffer, taxol (Cat. # TXD01), DMSO, perfusion chamber filter paper and acid-washed perfusion chambers in a convenient kit format (Cat. # BK027).   The kinesin heavy chain motor (Cat. # KR01) can serve as a positive control in this kit when studying an uncharacterized motor protein or as a substrate to examine how a drug/compound affects kinesin/microtubule motility.

 

For more information view our datasheets, or contact Technical Support at tservice@cytoskeleton.com.

  1. BimC kinesin motor domain protein (KIF11): GST tagged: A. nidulans BM01
    BimC kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: A. nidulans
    Learn More
  2. CENP-E kinesin motor domain protein (KIF10): GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant CP01
    CENP-E kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant Learn More
  3. Chromokinesin kinesin motor domain protein (KIF4): GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant CR01
    Chromokinesin kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant
    Learn More
  4. Eg5 homolog kinesin motor domain protein (KIF11): GST tagged: Aspergillus fumigatis recombinant EG02
    Eg5 homolog kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Aspergillus fumigatis recombinant
    Learn More
  5. Eg5 kinesin motor domain protein (KIF11): GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant EG01
    Eg5 kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant
    Learn More
  6. Heavy Meromyosin Protein (HMM Fragment from cardiac muscle tissue) CS-MH03

    Heavy Meromyosin Protein (HMM Fragment from cardiac muscle tissue)

    Learn More
  7. KIF18A Motor Domain (1-374) His-Protein: wild-type (Human recombinant) CS-KF18

    KIF18A Motor Domain (1-374) His-Protein: wild-type (Human recombinant)

    Learn More
  8. KIF22 Motor Domain (5-378) His-Protein: wild-type (Human recombinant) CS-KF02

    KIF22 Motor Domain (5-378) His-Protein: wild-type (Human recombinant)

    Learn More
  9. KIF3C kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant KF01
    KIF3C kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant
    Learn More
  10. KIFC3 kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant KC01
    KIFC3 kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant
    Learn More
  11. Kinesin heavy chain motor domain protein (KIF5A): GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant KR01
    Kinesin heavy chain motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant
    Learn More
  12. MCAK kinesin motor domain protein (KIF2): GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant MK01
    MCAK kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant
    Learn More
  13. MKLP kinesin motor domain protein (KIF23): GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant MP01
    MKLP kinesin motor domain protein: GST tagged: Homo sapiens recombinant
    Learn More
  14. Myosin II protein: rabbit skeletal muscle MY02
    Myosin II protein: rabbit skeletal muscle
    Learn More
  15. Myosin protein: bovine cardiac muscle MY03
    Myosin protein: bovine cardiac muscle
    Learn More