Mechanochemical modeling of dynamic microtubule growth involving sheet-to-tube transition.

ABSTRACT: Microtubule dynamics is largely influenced by nucleotide hydrolysis and the resultant tubulin configuration changes. The GTP cap model has been proposed to interpret the stabilizing mechanisms of microtubule growth from the view of hydrolysis effects. Besides, the growth of a microtubule involves the closure of a curved sheet at its growing end. The curvature conversion from the longitudinal direction to the circumferential direction also helps to stabilize the successive growth, and the curved sheet is referred to as the conformational cap. However, there still lacks theoretical investigation on the mechanical-chemical coupling growth process of microtubules. In this paper, we study the growth mechanisms of microtubules by using a coarse-grained molecular method. First, the closure proces

SUBMITTER: Ji XY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3243706 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature