Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Quintyne, Nicholas

Abstract

Vesicular transport is vital to the living cell. Motor proteins, such as the kinesin superfamily proteins (KIFs), travel along microtubules with attached vesicles to achieve vesicular transport (Hirokawa 2008). However, not all kinesins participate in vesicular transport, some are required for other cellular functions. A recent study showed that the KIF9 motor is involved in keeping the microtubule organization center (MTOC) correctly positioned and oriented in Dictyostelium (Tikhonenko et al., 2009), suggesting it may be involved in non-transport functions. By modulating protein expression levels of KIF9 in COS7 cells, this study aims to determine whether or not KIF9 contributes to vesicular motility. Using a fluorescent dye, we have been able to track lysosome movements in living cells. Our analysis has shown that decreasing KIF9 expression has no effect on the velocity of vesicle motility, but does slightly affect processivity. This suggests that KIF9 is not directly involved in cell motility, and serves another function within the cell which may serve to decrease overall processivity.

Comments

Includes bibliography.

Extent

37 p.

Identifier

FA00003566

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