Thomas U. Mayer
Regulation of the activity and localization of the motorprotein Kif18A by posttranslational modifications
The overarching aim of this project is to better understand how posttranslational modifications affect the activity, localization and concentration of a protein in cells. For these studies we use the mitotic kinesin Kif18A as a model substrate. Kif18A is essential for the correct segregation of chromosomes during mitosis and undergoes multiple posttranslational modifications, e.g. phosphorylation and glycosylation. In vitro assays in combination with live cell studies will be used to analyze how the identified modifications affect the function of Kif18A in cells. In collaborative efforts within this consortium, synthetic ATP analogs will be developed which can be used as activity probes to study the activity of kinesins in real time (project B08) and metabolic carbohydrate engineering will be employed to investigate Kif18A glycosylation (project B05).