Kinesin, a protein that transports particles along microtubules, has been purified from pig brain, following published methods. By electron microscopy of both shadowed and negatively stained specimens, it appears to be a rod with a large branched structure at one end and a small fork at the other. The total length of the structure is about 100 nm. The rod has a diameter of 2–4 nm. Close to the middle of the rod there may be a flexible joint. The molecules appear to be attached to microtubules most often by their forked ends in the presence of AMP · PNP. However, the large branched end can also attach to microtubules and individual molecules occasionally have been seen cross-linking two microtubules.

Keywords:
kinesin, microtubules, electron microscopy
© 1987 by Company of Biologists
1987
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