A protein that walks like a drunken sailor

Just like people, some proteins have characteristic ways of moving. Scientists have discovered the unique "drunken sailor" gait of dynein, a motor protein that is critical for the function of human cells and whose malfunction has been associated with Lou Gehrig's disease and Parkinson's disease. All motor proteins are "two-footed" and use the energy from breaking chemical bonds to generate movement. Most motor proteins "work by walking more or less like we do: one foot in front of the other in a straight line," says Samara Reck-Peterson, lead researcher of the study. "We have discovered that...dynein appears to be different. Its two feet are at times uncoordinated and often veer from side to side (think drunken sailor). This mode of walking makes the dynein motor unique and may allow it to navigate obstacles while performing its transport functions in cells." Deciphering the walking mechanism of dynein may one day shed light on the molecular basis of neurodegenerative disease.