Rendering of ILE pocket



Shown here are cross-eyed (left pair of trio) and wall-eyed (right pair) stereos of the human and rat kinesin structures. Based on arguments outlined in the article, we propose that these two structures represent the ADP/nucleotide-free and ATP/ADP-Pi states of kinesin respectively. In the ADP/nucleotide-free state (human), the neck linker is mobile and only a small portion of it is seen in the x-ray structure (red and orange). ATP binding to the active site causes the relay helix and polymer loop to move (white arrow) from the downstroke position (light green) to the upstroke position (dark green), creating a pocket on the surface of the motor core. Insertion of I325 (orange, I327 in rat kinesin) into this pocket triggers zippering of the neck linker onto the core. In the docked rat kinesin neck linker (yellow), pockets for additional residues can also be identified, e.g. a conserved N329, two residues to the right of I327. The black arrowhead indicates where the visible portion of the neck linker originates on the rendered surface.



Acknowledgements:

Human kinesin PDB# 1BG2
Rat kinesin PDB# 2KIN
Brain Sheehan made the renderings, using AVS modules written by Mike Pique.
Abel W Lin composed the final illustration.
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awl