Figure 1

Model and normal distributions of myosin-Vb and transferrin. (A) Peripheral endosomes are retained in the periphery by multiple myosin-Vb motors whose heads periodically detach from actin as they go through the ATPase cycle, but usually reattaching. (B) Dynein (or a minus-end-directed kinesin) attaches to a microtubule and exerts retrograde force. Occasionally, adjacent myosin-Vb detaches from actin (dotted circle), allowing dynein to pull it away from the actin filament. (C) Following fission, the daughter vesicle moves retrogradely, carrying myosin-Vb as a passenger. (D, E, F) In HeLa cells expressing low levels of eGFP-myosin-Vb, colocalization between myosin-Vb (green) and transferrin (red) is rare (arrow) and transient (also see Additional file 1).