Michael Plamann
Associate Professor, CBB
Ph.D. University of Iowa
Office: 416 BSB
Phone: (816) 235-2593
E-mail: PlamannM
Research Areas
Microtubule-associated motors, organelle movement, growth polarity, cytoskeleton
Current Interests
"Cytoplasmic dynein is a multisubunit complex that functions as a microtubule-associated motor required for organization of Golgi, ER to Golgi trafficking, retrograde transport of organelles in axons, assembly of the spindle, and intracellular transport of viruses such as herpes simplex and rabies. Cytoplasmic dynein function and interaction with various cargoes requires an additional multisubunit complex know as dynactin. A genetic screen has been developed, using the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa that allows the isolation of hundreds of mutants defective for cytoplasmic dynein or dynactin. All of the genes encoding subunits of dynein and dynactin have been cloned, and additional genes have been identified that encode potential regulators of dynein/dynactin function. A combination of genetic and biochemical approaches are being used to examine motor activity and membrane interaction in a wild-type strain and in various mutants."
Research Support
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation.
