KIF13A motors are regulated by Rab22A to function as weak dimers inside the cell

Nishaben M. Patel, Meenakshi Sundaram Aravintha Siva, Ruchi Kumari, Dipeshwari J. Shewale, Ashim Rai, Michael Ritt, Prerna Sharma, Subba Rao Gangi Setty, Sivaraj Sivaramakrishnan, Virupakshi Soppina

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Endocytic recycling is a complex itinerary, critical for many cellular processes. Membrane tubulation is a hallmark of recycling endosomes (REs), mediated by KIF13A, a kinesin-3 family motor. Understanding the regulatory mechanism of KIF13A in RE tubulation and cargo recycling is of fundamental importance but is overlooked. Here, we report a unique mechanism of KIF13A dimerization modulated by Rab22A, a small guanosine triphosphatase, during RE tubulation. A conserved proline between neck coil-coiled-coil (NC-CC1) domains of KIF13A creates steric hindrance, rendering the motors as inactive monomers. Rab22A plays an unusual role by binding to NC-CC1 domains of KIF13A, relieving proline-mediated inhibition and facilitating motor dimerization. As a result, KIF13A motors produce balanced motility and force against multiple dyneins in a molecular tug-of-war to regulate RE tubulation and homeostasis. Together, our findings demonstrate that KIF13A motors are tuned at a single-molecule level to function as weak dimers on the cellular cargo.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbereabd2054
JournalScience Advances
Volume7
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 3 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).

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