Measuring nanometer scale gradients in spindle microtubule dynamics using model convolution microscopy.

ABSTRACT: A computational model for the budding yeast mitotic spindle predicts a spatial gradient in tubulin turnover that is produced by kinetochore-attached microtubule (kMT) plus-end polymerization and depolymerization dynamics. However, kMTs in yeast are often much shorter than the resolution limit of the light microscope, making visualization of this gradient difficult. To overcome this limitation, we combined digital imaging of fluorescence redistribution after photobleaching (FRAP) with model convolution methods to compare computer simulations at nanometer scale resolution to microscopic data. We measured a gradient in microtubule dynamics in yeast spindles at approximately 65-nm spatial intervals. Tubulin turnover is greatest near kinetochores and lowest near the spindle poles. A beta-tubuli

SUBMITTER: Pearson CG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1593174 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature