Force fluctuations and polymerization dynamics of intracellular microtubules.

ABSTRACT: Microtubules are highly dynamic biopolymer filaments involved in a wide variety of biological processes including cell division, migration, and intracellular transport. Microtubules are very rigid and form a stiff structural scaffold that resists deformation. However, despite their rigidity, inside of cells they typically exhibit significant bends on all length scales. Here, we investigate the origin of these bends using a Fourier analysis approach to quantify their length and time dependence. We show that, in cultured animal cells, bending is suppressed by the surrounding elastic cytoskeleton, and even large intracellular forces only cause significant bending fluctuations on short length scales. However, these lateral bending fluctuations also naturally cause fluctuations in the orientati

SUBMITTER: Brangwynne CP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2042173 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature