Quantum mechanics

Cell biology

Dynamin

Ecology

GTPase

Biology

Endocrinology

Biochemistry

Organelle

Endocytosis

Neutron

Physics

Membrane

Helix (gastropod)

GTP'

Constriction

Enzyme

Fission

Crystallography

Chemistry

Cell

Biophysics

Snail

Endocytic cycle

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance The GTPase dynamin catalyzes membrane fission and is essential in endocytosis and other events such as organelle division. Dynamin is a unique molecular motor with torsional and contractile abilities. Because these abilities involve a conformational change at the whole-polymer level, standard structural biology tools have not been able to fully unravel the mechanism by which it constricts and twists. Here we used high-speed atomic force microscopy to image the constriction and fission of dynamin-coated tubules with subnanometer and subsecond resolution. Our results provide important findings to establish the contribution of the various constriction mechanisms.

Dynamic remodeling of the dynamin helix during membrane constriction