Unitary step of gliding machinery in Mycoplasma mobile.

Among the bacteria that glide on substrate surfaces, Mycoplasma mobile is one of the fastest, exhibiting smooth movement with a speed of 2.0-4.5 µm⋅s(-1) with a cycle of attachment to and detachment from sialylated oligosaccharides. To study the gliding mechanism at the molecular level, we applied an assay with a fluorescently labeled and membrane-permeabilized ghost model, and investigated the motility by high precision colocalization microscopy. Under conditions designed to reduce the number of motor interactions on a randomly oriented substrate, ghosts took unitary 70-nm steps in the direction of gliding. Although it remains possible that the stepping behavior is produced by multiple interactions, our data suggest that these steps are produced by a unitary gliding machine that need not move between sites arranged on a cytoskeletal lattice.

A torque component present in mitotic kinesin Eg5 revealed by three-dimensional tracking.

Mitotic kinesin Eg5 is a homotetrameric molecular motor that cross-links and slides microtubules. The extent to which Eg5 moves processively is not clear. Here we use three-dimensional tracking of a quantum dot attached to the microtubule in a motility assay to directly visualize the corkscrew motion of a sliding microtubule. We show that the rotational pitch of microtubule sliding conveniently reports on the processivity of the driving motors, confirming that two-headed Eg5 is much less processive than two-headed kinesin-1.

Single-molecule observation of rotation of F1-ATPase through microbeads.

F(o)F(1)-ATP synthase catalyzes the synthesis of ATP using proton-motive force across a membrane. When isolated, the F1 sector, composed of five polypeptide chains with a stoichiometry of alpha(3)beta(3)gammadeltaepsilon, solely hydrolyzes ATP into ADP and phosphate, and is thus called F(1)-ATPase. Rotation of a shaft domain in F(o)F(1)-ATP synthase has been hypothesized by Paul Boyer, and ultimately was confirmed by direct observation as rotation of the gamma-subunit in an isolated alpha(3)beta(3)gamma subcomplex. Unitary turnover of ATP induces 120 degrees steps, consistent with the configuration of three catalytic sites arranged 120 degrees apart around gamma. We have shown the relationships between chemical and mechanical events by imaging individual F(1) molecules under an optical microscope. A new scheme emerges: as soon as a catalytic site binds ATP, the gamma-subunit always turns the same face (interaction surface) to the beta hosting that site; approximately 80 degrees rotation is driven by ATP binding; approximately 40 degrees rotation is induced by completion of hydrolysis [and/or phosphate release] in the site that bound ATP one step earlier.