Long-range, through-lattice coupling improves predictions of microtubule catastrophe.

ABSTRACT: Microtubules are cylindrical polymers of αβ-tubulin that play critical roles in fundamental processes such as chromosome segregation and vesicular transport. Microtubules display dynamic instability, switching stochastically between growth and rapid shrinking as a consequence of GTPase activity in the lattice. The molecular mechanisms behind microtubule catastrophe, the switch from growth to rapid shrinking, remain poorly defined. Indeed, two-state stochastic models that seek to describe microtubule dynamics purely in terms of the biochemical properties of GTP- and GDP-bound αβ-tubulin predict the concentration dependence of microtubule catastrophe incorrectly. Recent studies provide evidence for three distinct conformations of αβ-tubulin in the lattice that likely correspond to GTP, GDP.P

SUBMITTER: Kim T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6724698 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature