Link to bioRxiv paper:
http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.07.03.547521v1?rss=1

Authors: Fellows, A. D., Bruntraeger, M., Burgold, T., Bassett, A. R., Carter, A. P.

Abstract:
The microtubule motor dynein drives retrograde transport from the axon tip back to the cell body and is essential for neuronal survival. Its function requires its cofactor dynactin and regulators LIS1 and NDEL1. However, it is unclear if all dynein components can travel along the axon, how far they move and whether they do so together. Here, we use neuron-inducible (NGN2-OPTi-OX) human-stem-cell lines to endogenously tag dynein components and track them under a near single molecule regime. In the retrograde direction dynein and dynactin can move the entire greater than 500 um length of the axon in one go. Furthermore, LIS1 and NDEL1 also undergo long-distance movement, despite being mainly implicated with initiation of transport. Intriguingly, in the anterograde direction dynein/LIS1 move faster than dynactin/NDEL1 implying they can travel on different cargos. Therefore, neurons ensure efficient transport by keeping dynein/dynactin on cargos over long distances, but keeping them separate until their function is required.

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