The Role of Myosin-X in a Putative System of Intrafilopodial Transport

The Role of Myosin-X in a Putative System of Intrafilopodial Transport Public Deposited

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Kerber, Michael Lee
- Affiliation: School of Medicine, Department of Cell Biology and Physiology

Abstract

My research focuses on the role of the molecular motor, myosin-X (Myo10), in the cellular protrusions called filopodia. Chapter one provides an up-to-date review of Myo10 in a manuscript that is being prepared for submission to the Journal of Cell Science. Chapter two, my main data chapter, was published in Current Biology and describes a novel population of fast-moving Myo10 in filopodia that we discovered using single-molecule imaging techniques. For this paper, I optimized the imaging system used to detect single Myo10 molecules, performed most of the experiments, and made all of the figures. I also helped develop a software program, Kymotracker, that exploits a technique called kymography to track and take measurements of these single molecules in time-lapse videos. In Chapter three, I describe preliminary experiments investigating the role of Myo10 in filopodial adhesions. In Chapter four, I summarize conclusions drawn from my research and discuss important avenues of future research in the field.

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