The Path to Kinesin and Beyond

The recognition that the components of the axon and synapse originated in the neuronal cell body and were transported to their final destinations was recognized as early as Ramon y Cajal's pioneering studies on regeneration. However, mechanisms by which this transport was accomplished remained a mystery even as information accumulated about the rates and the composition of material being transported. The challenge was a lack of knowledge about molecular motors. In the early 1980's, advances in live cell imaging in combination with a novel model for study of vesicle transport in the axon led to the discovery of a new family of molecular motors, the kinesins.