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Science 1 February 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5556, pp. 780 - 781
DOI: 10.1126/science.295.5556.780
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News of the Week

CELL BIOLOGY:
Molecular Motors Move in Mysterious Ways

Jennifer Couzin

On page 844, a trio of biologists disputes the widely accepted mechanism of motion for kinesin. They propose that kinesin, a motor protein responsible for propelling cellular components and proteins along stiff fibers called microtubules, crawls like an inchworm rather than taking even, symmetrical steps. The theory is striking for, among other issues, its pronouncement that kinesin's two structurally identical "heads," clusters of amino acids that do most of the enzyme's work, perform vastly different tasks.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)