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Vladimir I. Gelfand, PhDProfessor
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One of the remarkable features of eukaryotic cells is their ability for rapid transport of intracellular organelles in the cytoplasm. Examples of such transport include segregation of chromosomes during cell division and the transport of organelles in neurons from the cell body into axons and dendrites. Movements of organelles are powered by molecular motors. Microtubule motors(kinesins and dyneins) move along microtubules and myosins move along microfilaments. We want to know how multiple motors on the surface of the same cargo work together in organelle movement, how these motors are attached to the surface of organelles, and what regulates their activity.
We use two cellular models to answer these questions. One model is cultured pigment cells (melanophores). These cells activate movement of pigment organelles in response to hormone-modulated changes of cAMP concentration. The movement of pigment organelles is powered by three different motors (two microtubule motors of different polarity and a myosin) and this system is very convenient for analysis of motor regulation. A second model is cultured Drosophila cells that we use to individual components of transport machinery by using RNAi. In our work, we employ techniques of cell and molecular biology and computer-assisted microscopy of living cells and purified organelles as well as high-resolution and high-sensitivity biophysical methods.
S. L. Rogers and V. I. Gelfand (2000) Membrane trafficking, organelle transport, and the cytoskeleton. Curr. Opinion in Cell Biology 12:57-62.
R. L. Karcher, J. T. Roland, F. Zappacosta, M. J. Huddleston, R. S. Annan, S. A. Carr, and V, I. Gelfand (2001) Cell cycle regulation of myosin-V by calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. Science 293: 1317-1320
R. L. Karcher, S. W. Deacon and V. I. Gelfand (2002) Motor-cargo interactions: the key to transport specificity. Trends in Cell Biology, 12: 12: 21-27.
S. P. Gross, M. C. Tuma, S. W. Deacon, A. S. Serpinskaya, A. R. Reilein and V. I. Gelfand (2002) Interactions and regulation of molecular motors in Xenopus melanophores J. Cell Biol. 15:855-65
S. W. Deacon, A. S. Serpinskaya, P. S. Vaughan, M. L. Fanarraga, I. Vernos, K. T. Vaughan, and V. I. Gelfand. (2003) Dynactin is required for bidirectional organelle transport. J. Cell Biol. 160:297-301
A. C. Nascimento, J. T. Roland and V .I. Gelfand. (2003) Pigment cells as a model for the study of organelle transport. Ann. Rev. of Cell and Developmental Biology 19:469-91
S. W. Deacon, A. A. Nascimento, A.S. Serpinskaya, V. I. Gelfand VI (2005) Regulation of bidirectional melanosome transport by organelle bound MAP kinase. Curr. Biol. 15:459-463.
S.C. Ling, P. S. Fahrner, W. T. Greenough, V.I. Gelfand VI. (2004) Transport of Drosophila fragile X mental retardation protein-containing ribonucleoprotein granules by kinesin-1 and cytoplasmic dynein. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A. 101:17428-17433.
C. Kural, H. Kim, S. Syed, G. Goshima, V.I. Gelfand, Paul R. Selvin. (2005) Kinesin & dynein move a peroxisome in vivo: a Tug-of-war or coordinated movement? Science (in press)
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View Publications by Vladimir Gelfand listed in the National Library of Medicine (PubMed). |
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