Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2001 Jun 19;98(13):7004-11.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.111145398.

All kinesin superfamily protein, KIF, genes in mouse and human

H Miki  1 , M Setou, K Kaneshiro, N Hirokawa
Affiliations
Review

All kinesin superfamily protein, KIF, genes in mouse and human

H Miki et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Intracellular transport is essential for morphogenesis and functioning of the cell. The kinesin superfamily proteins (KIFs) have been shown to transport membranous organelles and protein complexes in a microtubule- and ATP-dependent manner. More than 30 KIFs have been reported in mice. However, the nomenclature of KIFs has not been clearly established, resulting in various designations and redundant names for a single KIF. Here, we report the identification and classification of all KIFs in mouse and human genome transcripts. Previously unidentified murine KIFs were found by a PCR-based search. The identification of all KIFs was confirmed by a database search of the total human genome. As a result, there are a total of 45 KIFs. The nomenclature of all KIFs is presented. To understand the function of KIFs in intracellular transport in a single tissue, we focused on the brain. The expression of 38 KIFs was detected in brain tissue by Northern blotting or PCR using cDNA. The brain, mainly composed of highly differentiated and polarized cells such as neurons and glia, requires a highly complex intracellular transport system as indicated by the increased number of KIFs for their sophisticated functions. It is becoming increasingly clear that the cell uses a number of KIFs and tightly controls the direction, destination, and velocity of transportation of various important functional molecules, including mRNA. This report will set the foundation of KIF and intracellular transport research.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Northern blotting of additional KIFs. KIF2B is expressed ubiquitously in 2-week-old mouse tissue. KIF16B mRNA is detected in testis as a 4.1-kb band and a 3.3-kb band in brain. KIF18A was found in adult brain and embryonic head. KIF18B expression is dominant in testis. KIF19A is detected in testis, lung, and brain. KIF24 bands are seen in testis and spleen lanes. Ts, testis; Si, small intestine; Kd, kidney; Ht, heart; Br, brain; Sp, spleen; Sc, spinal cord; Lv, liver; Lu, lung; Pa, pancreas; Eh, embryo head; E, embryo; Sm, skeletal muscle; St, stomach; Ty, thymus; Ov, ovary.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenic analysis of mouse and human orthologs. Forty-four of 45 murine KIFs have orthologs in humans. Sequences were analyzed by the neighbor-joining method.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Phylogenic analysis of all KIFs expressed in mouse/humans, D. melanogaster, C. elegans, and S. cerevisiae. Amino acid sequences were aligned by using maximum parsimony. Sequences used for alignment are available as supplemental data or in the public segment of the Celera database (www.celera.com).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Hirokawa N. Trends Cell Biol. 1996;6:135–141. - PubMed
    1. Hirokawa N. Science. 1998;279:519–526. - PubMed
    1. Brendza R P, Serbus L R, Duffy J B, Saxton W M. Science. 2000;289:2120–2122. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hirokawa N, Noda Y, Okada Y. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 1998;10:60–73. - PubMed
    1. Vale R D, Fletterick R J. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 1997;13:745–777. - PubMed

Publication types