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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1991 Oct 1;88(19):8470–8474. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.19.8470

Identification and partial characterization of six members of the kinesin superfamily in Drosophila.

R J Stewart 1, P A Pesavento 1, D N Woerpel 1, L S Goldstein 1
PMCID: PMC52530  PMID: 1924306

Abstract

Recent evidence has suggested that the principal polypeptide component of the microtubule motor protein kinesin may be a member of an extended superfamily of related motor proteins. To gain insight into how large the kinesin superfamily might be and to begin determining the potential functions in which various superfamily members might participate, we identified and partially characterized six additional members of the Drosophila kinesin superfamily. Genes encoding these proteins were identified by using the polymerase chain reaction with degenerate primers corresponding to highly conserved regions of the kinesin heavy-chain motor domain. Partial sequencing of the six genes revealed that they encode proteins that are 40-60% identical to the motor domain of the kinesin heavy-chain sequence. The cytogenetic locations as well as the developmental and tissue-specific expression patterns have been determined. The data suggest that each of these six kinesin-like proteins may have functions in a wide variety of cell types and tissues.

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Selected References

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