The focus of this work is on the mechanoenzymes that are likely to participate in growth cone motility. Cellular and molecular methods are being used to locate and disrupt the activity of mechanoenzymes thought to be important for locomotion. The second project concentrates on a unique mechanoenzyme, myosin V, that appears to be important for normal central nervous system function. V null mutants exhibit ataxia, convulsions and opisthotonus which lead to death by postnatal day 21. We are using a variety of cellular and molecular techniques to determine the functional role of myosin V in nerve cells and how the lack of myosin V leads to the abnormal neurologic symptoms seen in the mutant animals.
Particles move along actin filament bundles in nerve growth cones.
Subcellular localization of myosin V in nerve growth cones and outgrowth from dilute-lethal neurons.