Microtubules provide the architectural framework on which many cellular organelles are transported.
These unidirectional cytoplasmic motors, in combination with the assembly of polarized arrays of microtubules within cells, provide a mechanism for partitioning cellular organelles and molecules within a cell s cytoplasmic compartment. Malfunctions in motor function influence global aspects of cell biology and underlie a growing list of medical maladies including cancer, birth defects and deafness. My laboratory is combining molecular genetic and biochemical approaches in Drosophila to study the function and regulation of the dynein motor. In one line of investigation, we are testing the hypothesis that the subunits within the multi-protein motor complex are specialized in their functions. We want to understand whether this mechanism explains how a single dynein motor complex can accomplish multiple tasks.