Functional Characterisation of Myosin Motors (Funktionelle Charakterisierung von Myosinmotoren)

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The generation and characterisation of recombinant myosins will be one of the major contributions of our project to the programme. We will specifically design and optimise myosins and myosin fragments for use in kinetic, structural and cell biological studies. This approach will allow us to link structural alterations introduced with specific mutations to the in vivo and in vitro functions of the myosin motor. Major questions that can be addressed with this approach are: (1) How do mutations in the actin-binding face of the myosin motor affect the interaction with actin? (2) How do mutations in the actin-binding face alter events in other domains of the motor? (3) How is information communicated between the nucleotide-binding site, the actin binding-face, and the lever arm? (4) Can the enzymatic properties of the motor be altered in a predictable way by exchanging surface loops or structural modules with synthetic sequences? (5) How do the enzymatic properties of unconventional myosins differ from those of a myosin II?