Advances in live-cell microscopy have revealed the extraordinarily dynamic nature of intracellular organelles. Moreover, movement appears to be critical in establishing and maintaining intracellular organization and organellar and cellular function. Motility is regulated by the activity of organelle-associated motor proteins, kinesins, dyneins and myosins, which move cargo along polar MT (microtubule) and actin tracks. However, in most instances, the motors that move specific organelles remain mysterious. Over recent years, pigment granules, or melanosomes, within pigment cells have provided an excellent model for understanding the molecular mechanisms by which motor proteins associate with and move intracellular organelles. In the present paper, we discuss recent discoveries that shed light on the mechanisms of melanosome transport and highlight future prospects for the use of pigment cells in unravelling general molecular mechanisms of intracellular transport.
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Conference Article|
September 21 2011
Melanosomes on the move: a model to understand organelle dynamics
Alistair N. Hume;
Alistair N. Hume
1
*School of Biomedical Sciences, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, U.K.
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (email alistair.hume@nottingham.ac.uk).
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Miguel C. Seabra
Miguel C. Seabra
†Molecular Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, U.K.
‡Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, 2780-156 Oeiras, Portugal
§Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 1169-056 Lisbon, Portugal
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
April 04 2011
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2011 Biochemical Society
2011
Biochem Soc Trans (2011) 39 (5): 1191–1196.
Article history
Received:
April 04 2011
Citation
Alistair N. Hume, Miguel C. Seabra; Melanosomes on the move: a model to understand organelle dynamics. Biochem Soc Trans 1 October 2011; 39 (5): 1191–1196. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST0391191
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