Work from Dr Anthony Roberts’s laboratory in the ISMB, in collaboration with Dr Andrew Carter’s group at the MRC-LMB in Cambridge, has determined the cryo-EM structure of the motor protein dynein-2, which transports cargoes and signalling molecules within cilia and flagella. Dynein-2 is fundamental to human development and its dysfunction is associated with short-rib thoracic dysplasias with or without polydactyly; inherited disorders characterised by abnormal rib cage development with severe, often life-threatening, consequences.
The research – which was funded by the Wellcome Trust, Royal Society, BBSRC and MRC – is published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41594-019-0286-y
The Roberts group was recently awarded a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship to further their studies on the mechanism of transport within cilia and flagella.
