A Day in the Life of a Motor Protein

The primary aim of the Hoogenraad research lab at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, is to understand how intracellular protein transport underlies the development and function of nerve cells. During this 5 min movie we follow John, a motor protein, who has to transport his package to the right destination in the nerve cell, illustrating the relevance and mechanisms of proper intracellular transport in the nervous system.

[positiveoutlook]

This is what I've been waiting for. Explaining biology through analogies and cartoons. Now all that's left is for someone to create a video game of sorts where you pass through the body as some molecule or protein.

[almm]

This is a very good, fun video. What a lot of people probably don't know, is that these motor proteins do actually walk. They have two legs and walk in a similar way to, um, how John walks only thousands of times faster. They are also in all of your cells and not just in brain cells. Great fun stuff!

[RoboThot]

The Johns in charge of delivering seratonin in my brain must have gotten lost

[BertieWoster]

My biology teacher never told us that motor proteins have eyes and wear slippers! I can't wait to tell him something he doesn't know! :D

[shybound]

john is the one person in the group project who does 99 percent of the work

[MooMooMath]

Very creative and fun to watch. Go motor protein go

[ashleyrobertson]

What an incredibly well-made video. This helped me see past the complicated jargon of vesicle transport. Science and art should always be friends.

[tatkins]

Excellent... it is time for Pixar to grab these characters and begin to describe life at the cellular level!!!!

[travismaenle]

the human body blows my fucking mind. complicated shit is happening in order for me to post this comment. and you to read it.

[stephen]

john works so hard to keep you alive and you just sit here watching youtube videos.

[TheDutchPhysicist]

For those curious, the city is utrecht in the netherlands

[Schregger]

Man, John puts up with this shit everyday... what a trooper.

[aryaa]

wow, this is amazing! John has nice purple slippers

[lewiss]

The John’s carrying my brain cells during exams must really have it hard, huh.

[gigglysamentz]

Oh my god this is absolutely amazing ! This video is so well made and explains very complex processes with excellent analogies ! I'm a biochemist and knew these motor proteins, yet I still learned a lot.

[Shadowmech]

The way John walks reminds me of the animation I've seen used for motor proteins in other videos.
The similarity across multiple depictions makes me wonder - do we actually know the proteins move in that specific way? Have they been observed making those movements under a microscope or something?

[taravanderveer]

THIS IS AWESOME! I teach biology and the students tend to not have an appreciation for the cytoskeleton and its importance. What a great video to help them appreciate how cool these guys are. Thanks!

[spathiphyl]

i just discovered this video almost 11 years after it has been posted, this is GENIUS

[andrewd]

fun video, but since kinesin can only move toward the plus end, how does john get home?

[wellesmorgado]

Very cool! Even John's humble steps are by themselves marvels of physics, chemistry & engineering. Hoping you do a video on them too.