Unconventional myosins in cell movement, membrane traffic, and signal transduction

Abstract

In the past few years genetic, biochemical, and cytolocalization data have implicated members of the myosin superfamily of actin-based molecular motors in a variety of cellular functions including membrane trafficking, cell movements, and signal transduction. The importance of myosins is illustrated by the identification of myosin genes as targets for disease- causing mutations. The task at hand is to decipher how the multitude of myosins function at both the molecular and cellular level - a task facilitated by our understanding of myosin structure and function in muscle.