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 Philosophy:
Is there really any hope of getting clues about how a tiny machine works
by breaking it? And what hope is there of trying to fix it by
breaking it some more? For the philosophy behind our approach of mutant
making and suppressor isolation as an approach to enlightenment, delve
into this page. Rationale.
Introductory Stuff--Follow
this link to go to a directory that will guide you through the basic workings
of the myosin motor and the odd nomenclature used on these pages to refer
to the 3-D structure of a 'frozen' myosin motor. Newly
added Amino Acid Theatre lets you explore amino acid structures and compare
them. Biochemical
summary of cycle.
How do they DO that?--Follow
this link to go to a directory that will guide you through the basic
methodologies we use--from isolating mutants to learning the properties
of defective motors. Mutant isolation, biochemical
characterization.
A Specific Example:
Follow this link to go to a directory that will walk you through our
work with one specific mutant motor. You'll see how we have deduced
a model for what's wrong with the motor and how we're using mutant hunting
to test and extend our proposal. Genetic and biochemical
analysis of G680V mutant.
 the
Sea of Hypotheses (all hope abandon, ye who enter!).
Does any of this genetic mucky-muck help us understand how the motor
works? To see how we're integrating biochemistry, suppressor genetics,
and sheer guesswork to solve the " riddle wrapped in a mystery
inside an enigma," visit the Sea of Hypotheses, where hopes and
dreams--and plans of attack--are revealed. Models
for motor movement, faults of mutants, suppressors.
The Y2K direction of this work is an initiative to boldly go where no genetics
has gone before: Deducing and ordering the shapes of the motor through its
cycle. This work builds on all our findings to date, emerging hypotheses
and accumulated wisdom (such as it is!). Follow the link for the rationale,
the approach, and the emerging picture of an orderly, well-behaved Myosin!
(Currently under construction, but there's enough there to sink your teeth
into). Being expanded and updated as time and new data permit! Summary
of mutants isolated, genetic interactions observed; functional relationships
between mutants
Hot new stuff! Added our latest genetic and intellectual
data concerning three highly conserved residues that form a cluster in most
crystal structures and which each showed up as cold-sensitive mutants in
our initial genetic screen. Follow this
link to get right to the meat of the problem (or go straight to our
working model).
 Whodunit?
Despite the liberal use of the word "I" in this document (mostly to denote
lack of responsibility of others for harebrained ideas) this work is very
much a team effort. A short credit list appears on the next page. Most of
the stuff in these pages was generated by a variety of commercial, shareware
and freeware sources. In the giving credit where it's due dept. there's
WhoDunIt.
Ye Olde Stuffe: Pages that were once an active
part of the site, but have been 'retired'. Kept just in case anybody used
them...
Care to Comment? I'd be most curious to know what you thought of
the ideas and presentation here. The link to my name in the footer will
address an e-letter to me.
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