Syllabus
Cytoskeleton structure, microtubules and microfilaments and their synthesis and decomposition, distribution and orientation in the cell, influence on the cellular shape
Cytoskeletal molecular motors, classes of kinesins, dyneins, and myosins, structure and function
Function of kinesins - intracellular transport of vesicles and orgnelles and its targetting, orientation of movement along cytoskeletal structures, transport of chromosomes during cell division
Function of dyneins - flagelar and ciliary motion of unicellular animals, sperm and epithelial cells
Function of myosins - muscle contraction, transport in the proximity of cell membrane
Comparison of cytoskeletal and membrane molecular motors, transformation of the energy of macroergic bonds of ATP to energy of ion rgadients and vice versa
Principles of molecular motors' function, ATPase activity, power-stroke theory, Brownian motors, noice induced transport
Methods of exploration of molecular motors, single-molecule manipulation, optical-tweezer method, electron microscopy
* References:
Schliwa, M. (ed.): Molecular motors. VCH-Wiley, Weinheim, 2003
Annotation
The lecture is concerned with the causes and circumstances of the motion of individual objects within eukaryotic cells mediated by special protein molecules and supramolecular systems - cytoskeletal molecular motors. They facilitate targeted transfer of molecules, vesicles and organelles among individual cellular compartments, motion of flagella and cilia, changes of cellular shape, etc. The content of the lecture is oriented on thermodynamic, kinetic and mechanistic explanation of the described phenomena, but also on the description of important applications from cell energetics, cell reproduction, and neurobiology, medical point of view is also taken into the account. Specific research methods of studying molecular motors are briefly discussed.
Lectures are delivered in Czech to Czech students. For Erasmus students the lectures are in English. Depending on the number of students enrolled for the course, it can be arranged as regular or irregular (colloquium, consultations) lectures.