Activation of cytoplasmic dynein motility by dynactin-cargo adapter complexes

Abstract

How dynein makes the right moves The molecular motor cytoplasmic dynein moves a wide range of different intracellular cargoes. Dynein's activity in vivo requires another protein, dynactin, but exactly why that should be has been very unclear. Although in vitro experiments have provided some evidence that dynactin increases dynein's processivity, the resulting dynein motility has never come close to matching dynein's cargo-transporting activity in living cells. Now, McKenney et al. show that tripartite complexes of dynein, dynactin, and an adaptor molecule are highly processive in vitro, moving the sort of distances that dynein transports cargo in vivo (see the Perspective by Allan). Science , this issue p. 337 ; see also p. 271