Spatial structures in microtubular solutions requiring a sustained energy source

Tabony, J.; Job, Didier

doi:10.1038/346448a0

Cited by 114 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Interestingly this domain formation occurred throughout the cell, even in the regions not exposed to X-rays. There is a slight resemblance with the spontaneous pattern formations from microtubules in oscillating assembly/disassembly conditions, but in that case the authors reported orientations of the different domains of 90° [Tabony and Job, 1990]. No further investigations on this interesting phenomenon have been performed yet.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 89%

Scattering from biopolymers with helical symmetry in solution

Bras¹,

Diakun²,

Denny³

et al. 2000

J Appl Cryst

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Small angle X-ray fibre diffraction on aligned elongated macromolecules has been a routine tool for the structure of materials that either can not be crystallized or in cases in which one wants to study the structure of the molecule as close as possible to those occurring in solution. One of the problems with this approach is that quite often it is not possible to obtain completely aligned samples but only samples in which there is an angular distribution around the main orientation axis. This has as a consequence that at larger scattering angles the contributions from different layer lines start to overlap. A possible method to overcome this problem can be found in combining results from small angle solution scattering with small angle fibre diffraction from molecules aligned with their long axis parallel with respect to the X-ray beam. In the latter case one only observes the projection of the molecule on the basal plane. We show how this method can be applied to hydrated microtubules.

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Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 89%

Scattering from biopolymers with helical symmetry in solution

Bras¹,

Diakun²,

Denny³

et al. 2000

J Appl Cryst

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“…(6b), we use analytical approximations for the length dependence of the microtubule distributions as described in Sec. V. This stable numerical scheme can be generalized in future work to an effective algorithm for dealing with microtubule polymerization in one and two spatial dimensions [26] in order to investigate spatial patterns occurring during polymerization of microtubules [10,24]. The respective extension of the amplitude equation may also lead to new interesting insights.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling oscillatory microtubule polymerization

Hammele

Zimmermann

2003

Phys. Rev. E

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Polymerization of microtubules is ubiquitous in biological cells and under certain conditions it becomes oscillatory in time. Here simple reaction models are analyzed that capture such oscillations as well as the length distribution of microtubules. We assume reaction conditions that are stationary over many oscillation periods, and it is a Hopf bifurcation that leads to a persistent oscillatory microtubule polymerization in these models. Analytical expressions are derived for the threshold of the bifurcation and the oscillation frequency in terms of reaction rates as well as typical trends of their parameter dependence are presented. Both, a catastrophe rate that depends on the density of guanosine triphosphate (GTP) liganded tubulin dimers and a delay reaction, such as the depolymerization of shrinking microtubules or the decay of oligomers, support oscillations. For a tubulin dimer concentration below the threshold oscillatory microtubule polymerization occurs transiently on the route to a stationary state, as shown by numerical solutions of the model equations. Close to threshold a so-called amplitude equation is derived and it is shown that the bifurcation to microtubule oscillations is supercritical.

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“…For appropriate reaction dynamics, in vitro preparations self-organise over a period of several hours to form stationary macroscopic patterns of microtubule orientation and concentration [22,30] . In spectrophotometer cells (40 x 10 x 1 mm), a series of equidistant (0.5 mm) stripes form.…”

Section: Transportmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Under appropriate conditions the formation in vitro of microtubules shows this type of behaviour [22,23]. In these preparations, self-organisation also results in the collective transport and organisation of any colloidal and sub-cellular particles initially present in the reaction mixture [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of weightlessness on colloidal particle transport and segregation in self-organising microtubule preparations

Tabony

Rigotti

Glade

et al. 2007

Biophysical Chemistry

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Cortès. Effect of weightlessness on colloidal particle transport and segregation in self-organising microtubule preparations. Biophysical Chemistry, Elsevier, 2007, 127 (3) This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT ABSTRACTWeightlessness is known to effect cellular functions by as yet undetermined processes.Many experiments indicate a role of the cytoskeleton and microtubules. Under appropriate conditions in vitro microtubule preparations behave as a complex system that self-organises by a combination of reaction and diffusion. This process also results in the collective transport and organisation of any colloidal particles present. In large centimetre-sized samples, selforganisation does not occur when samples are exposed to a brief early period of weightlessness. Here, we report both space-flight and ground-based (clinorotation) experiments on the effect of w eightlessness on the transport and segregation of colloidal particles and chromosomes. In centimetre-sized containers, both methods show that a brief initial period of weightlessness strongly inhibits particle transport. In miniature cell-sized containers under normal gravity conditions, the particle transport that self-organisation causes results in their accumulation into segregated regions of high and low particle density. The gravity dependence of this behaviour is strongly shape dependent. In square wells, neither self-organisation nor particle transport and segregation occur under conditions of weightlessness. On the contrary, in rectangular canals, both phenomena are largely unaffected by weightlessness. These observations suggest, depending on factors such as cell and embryo shape, that major biological functions associated with microtubule driven particle transport and organisation might be strongly perturbed by weightlessness.

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Spatial structures in microtubular solutions requiring a sustained energy source

Cited by 114 publications

References 21 publications

Scattering from biopolymers with helical symmetry in solution

Scattering from biopolymers with helical symmetry in solution

Modeling oscillatory microtubule polymerization

Effect of weightlessness on colloidal particle transport and segregation in self-organising microtubule preparations

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