New Class of Molecular Motors Discovered by Scientists

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, the Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life, the Biotechnology Center of TU Dresden, and the National Centre for Biological Sciences in India have discovered a new molecular motor system that uses GTP instead of ATP and features a new mechanism for executing mechanical tasks. The motor, composed of two proteins, EEA1 and Rab5, can transfer chemical energy into mechanical work and play active mechanical roles in membrane trafficking. The team hopes that this new interdisciplinary study could open new research avenues in both molecular cell biology and biophysics.