{"id":124,"date":"2012-12-03T10:16:41","date_gmt":"2012-12-03T14:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/dwarshaw\/?page_id=124"},"modified":"2017-09-20T18:40:16","modified_gmt":"2017-09-20T18:40:16","slug":"intracellular-cargo-transport","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/physioweb.uvm.edu\/warshaw-lab\/research-interests\/intracellular-cargo-transport\/","title":{"rendered":"Intracellular Cargo Transport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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RESEARCH INTERESTS<\/h4>\n

Intracullular Cargo Transport<\/h1>\n

\"\"Myosin Va is a double-headed molecular motor that transports intracellular cargo by taking numerous ~36 nm steps along its actin track (see animation). Although a single motor can carry cargo, normally teams of myosin Va motors share this responsibility. Complicating matters is that the intracellular highway these motors travel on is a 3-dimensional meshwork that presents both a physical barrier and a directional challenge to the delivery of cargo to its destination. To address this dilemma we use both simplified in vitro<\/em> model systems of myosin Va transport within biomimetic actin cytoskeletons and in vivo<\/em> transport in tissue cultured cells (see movie of insulin granule transport in INS-1 cells).\u00a0Using the\u00a0laser trap,<\/a> single molecule fluorescence detection techniques, and super-resolution microscopy (STORM), we are in a position to define the molecular mechanisms underlying myosin Va\u2019s capacity as a single motor or within teams to maneuver cargo through Mother Nature\u2019s 3-dimensional actin filament maze. These studies require expertise in molecular biophysics, protein expression (in collaboration with\u00a0Dr. Kathleen Trybus)<\/a>. and biological systems modeling (in collaboration with Dr. Sam Walcott<\/a>).<\/p>\n

This movie shows the transport of 350nm liposomes by ~10 myosin Va motors on each liposome through a 3-D actin network suspended off of 3\u00b5m beads. Video recording accomplished using STORM super-resolution microscopy. The color bar represents the height of the actin in the Z-dimension.<\/p>\n