[Stitcher]

Life's Smallest Motor, Cargo Carrier of the Cells, Moves Like a Seesaw

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0218091238.htm

ScienceDaily (Feb. 19, 2010) — Life's smallest motor -- a protein that shuttles cargo within cells and helps cells divide -- does so by rocking up and down like a seesaw, according to research conducted by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Brandeis University.

The researchers created high-resolution snapshots of a protein motor, called kinesin, as it walked along a microtubule, which are tube-shaped structures that form a cell's "skeleton." The result is the closest look yet at the structural changes kinesin proteins undergo as they ferry molecules within cells.