Microtubule nanospool formation by active self-assembly is not initiated by thermal activation

Luria, Isaac; Crenshaw, Jasmine; Downs, Matthew; Agarwal, Ashutosh; Seshadri, Shruti B.; Gonzales, John; Idan, Ofer; Kamcev, Jovan; Katira, Parag; Pandey, Shivendra Kumar; Nitta, T.; Phillpot, Simon R.; Hess, Henry

doi:10.1039/c0sm00802h

Cited by 35 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Kin560 might be more rigid than the Kin573 and thereby may affect the mechanical coupling with moving MT. 33 However, comparing the size of ring-shaped GTP-MT assemblies obtained on K560 and K573 coated substrate as shown in 14 the Fig. S2 (see ESI), we found no statistically significant difference.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…10,11 Among them, the ring-shaped assembly have been attracting considerable attention and appears to be a promising candidate for application in nanotechnology as this non-equilibrium structure is capable of storing a huge amount of bending energy 8 and can provide continuous work without changing the position of the mass center. [12][13][14][15][16] Therefore, it is important to understand how different factors affect the formation and properties of ring-shaped MT assemblies such as rotational direction, thickness (subtraction of inner diameter from outer diameter), size etc.. So far, we have successfully controlled the rotational direction 17 and thickness 18 of the ring-shaped MT assembly by tuning helical structure of MTs and by feeding MTs in a stepwise manner in the AcSO respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of length and rigidity of microtubules on the size of ring-shaped assemblies obtained through active self-organization

et al. 2015

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The microtubule (MT)-kinesin biomolecular motor system has attracted much attention due to its possible applications in artificial biomachines. Recently an active self-organization (AcSO) method has been established to integrate MT filaments into highly organized assembled structures. The ring-shaped MT assembly, one of the structures derived from the AcSO of MTs, can convert the translational motion of MTs into rotational motion. Due to this attractive feature, the ring-shaped MT assembly appears to be a promising candidate for developing artificial devices and for future nanotechnological applications. In this work, we have investigated the effect of length and rigidity of MT filaments on the size of ring-shaped MT assembly in the AcSO process. We show that the size of ring-shaped MT assembly can be controlled by tuning the length and rigidity of MT filaments employed in the AcSO.Longer and stiffer MT filaments led to larger ring-shaped assemblies through AcSO, while AcSO of shorter and less stiff MT filaments produced smaller ring-shaped assemblies. This work might be important for the development of biomolecular motor based artificial biomachines, especially where size control of ring-shaped MT assembly will play an important role.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of length and rigidity of microtubules on the size of ring-shaped assemblies obtained through active self-organization

et al. 2015

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“…2a): spool size is limited by the presence of microtubules surrounding the spools. This confinement effect is proposed to underlie spool assembly, 13,17,25 and was previously demonstrated to induce a transient loop of "non-sticky" microtubules (lacking biotin-streptavidin-mediated adhesive interactions) during gliding. 23 In this scenario, because the microtubules can bundle and spool at faster rates at higher transport velocities (Fig.…”

Section: Transport Velocity Influences Spool Size During Initial Assementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This observation is perhaps not surprising because biomotors rely on ATP hydrolysis to propel microtubules 19,20 ; some level of microtubule gliding should be necessary to reduce the interaction distance between them and to allow spool assembly. Although the mechanisms underlying spool formation are not fully understood, all current models 13,25 implicitly require that the microtubules glide at a finite velocity. Consistent with this notion, once microtubule gliding was initiated (via the introduction of ATP), we observed clear spool assembly (Fig.…”

Section: Transport Velocity Influences the Rate Of Spool Assemblymentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the role of transport velocity in biomotor-powered microtubule spool assembly

et al. 2016

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“…They remarked with quite some foresight that these circular MT states could be explained by the existence of alternative tubulin dimer conformations [22]. The observation remained without wider public notice despite the frequent reoccurrence of MT arcs in the gliding dynamics of single filaments [23][24][25], bundles [26][27][28] and in collective (high density) gliding [29]. Force-induced circular arcs on the same scale, but rather dissimilar to classical buckling, have been found in numerous other situations [20,30], also in vivo [31][32][33].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Microtubules Run in Circles: Mechanical Hysteresis of the Tubulin Lattice

2015

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The fate of every eukaryotic cell subtly relies on the exceptional mechanical properties of microtubules. Despite significant efforts, understanding their unusual mechanics remains elusive. One persistent, unresolved mystery is the formation of long-lived arcs and rings, e.g. in kinesin-driven gliding assays. To elucidate their physical origin we develop a model of the inner workings of the microtubule's lattice, based on recent experimental evidence for a conformational switch of the tubulin dimer. We show that the microtubule lattice itself coexists in discrete polymorphic states. Curved states can be induced via a mechanical hysteresis involving torques and forces typical of few molecular motors acting in unison. This lattice switch renders microtubules not only virtually unbreakable under typical cellular forces, but moreover provides them with a tunable response integrating mechanical and chemical stimuli.PACS numbers: 87.16. Ka, 82.35.Pq, Microtubules (MTs) are the stiffest cytoskeletal component and play many versatile and indispensable roles in living cells. As 'cellular bones', they define to a large part cell mechanics, and are crucial for cellular transport and cell division [1][2][3][4]. Beyond their biological importance, MTs have been used as molecular sensors for intracellular forces, as biotemplates for nanopatterning, and as building blocks for hybrid materials and active systems like artificial cilia and self-propelled droplets [5][6][7][8][9][10]. The MT's structure is well known [11]: the elementary building blocks, tubulin dimers, polymerize head to tail into linear protofilaments, that associate side by side to form the hollow tube structure known as the MT.Despite of the MTs' importance, widespread use, the knowledge of its structure, and numerous experiments probing their elastic properties [13][14][15][16][17], understanding their basic mechanics still poses challenging problems. A remarkable one is found in MT gliding assays [18][19][20][21], see Fig. 1: already two decades ago, Amos & Amos [19] observed that MTs driven by kinesin motors on a glass surface can form arcs which continue gliding for significant time intervals before suddenly straightening out. They remarked with quite some foresight that these circular MT states could be explained by the existence of alternative tubulin dimer conformations [22]. The observation remained without wider public notice despite the frequent reoccurrence of MT arcs in the gliding dynamics of single filaments [23][24][25], bundles [26][27][28] and in collective (high density) gliding [29]. Force-induced circular arcs on the same scale, but rather dissimilar to classical buckling, have been found in numerous other situations [20,30], also in vivo [31][32][33]. While the lifetime of MT rings varies, their characteristic size of about one micron is preserved in single filament experiments [19,[23][24][25], indicating a robust mechanism at work. The importance of internal degrees of freedom of the MT lattice (e.g. interprotofilament shear [34,35] and ...

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Microtubule nanospool formation by active self-assembly is not initiated by thermal activation

Cited by 35 publications

References 29 publications

Effect of length and rigidity of microtubules on the size of ring-shaped assemblies obtained through active self-organization

Effect of length and rigidity of microtubules on the size of ring-shaped assemblies obtained through active self-organization

Understanding the role of transport velocity in biomotor-powered microtubule spool assembly

Why Microtubules Run in Circles: Mechanical Hysteresis of the Tubulin Lattice

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