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Active contraction of microtubule networks
Many cellular processes are driven by cytoskeletal assemblies. It remains unclear how cytoskeletal filaments and motor proteins organize into cellular scale structures and how molecular properties of cytoskeletal components affect the large-scale behaviors of these systems. Here, we investigate the...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4764591/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26701905 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10837 |
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author | Foster, Peter J Fürthauer, Sebastian Shelley, Michael J Needleman, Daniel J |
author_facet | Foster, Peter J Fürthauer, Sebastian Shelley, Michael J Needleman, Daniel J |
author_sort | Foster, Peter J |
collection | PubMed |
description | Many cellular processes are driven by cytoskeletal assemblies. It remains unclear how cytoskeletal filaments and motor proteins organize into cellular scale structures and how molecular properties of cytoskeletal components affect the large-scale behaviors of these systems. Here, we investigate the self-organization of stabilized microtubules in Xenopus oocyte extracts and find that they can form macroscopic networks that spontaneously contract. We propose that these contractions are driven by the clustering of microtubule minus ends by dynein. Based on this idea, we construct an active fluid theory of network contractions, which predicts a dependence of the timescale of contraction on initial network geometry, a development of density inhomogeneities during contraction, a constant final network density, and a strong influence of dynein inhibition on the rate of contraction, all in quantitative agreement with experiments. These results demonstrate that the motor-driven clustering of filament ends is a generic mechanism leading to contraction. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10837.001 |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4764591 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-47645912016-02-25 Active contraction of microtubule networks Foster, Peter J Fürthauer, Sebastian Shelley, Michael J Needleman, Daniel J eLife Biophysics and Structural Biology Many cellular processes are driven by cytoskeletal assemblies. It remains unclear how cytoskeletal filaments and motor proteins organize into cellular scale structures and how molecular properties of cytoskeletal components affect the large-scale behaviors of these systems. Here, we investigate the self-organization of stabilized microtubules in Xenopus oocyte extracts and find that they can form macroscopic networks that spontaneously contract. We propose that these contractions are driven by the clustering of microtubule minus ends by dynein. Based on this idea, we construct an active fluid theory of network contractions, which predicts a dependence of the timescale of contraction on initial network geometry, a development of density inhomogeneities during contraction, a constant final network density, and a strong influence of dynein inhibition on the rate of contraction, all in quantitative agreement with experiments. These results demonstrate that the motor-driven clustering of filament ends is a generic mechanism leading to contraction. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10837.001 eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2015-12-23 /pmc/articles/PMC4764591/ /pubmed/26701905 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10837 Text en © 2015, Foster et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Biophysics and Structural Biology Foster, Peter J Fürthauer, Sebastian Shelley, Michael J Needleman, Daniel J Active contraction of microtubule networks |
title | Active contraction of microtubule networks |
title_full | Active contraction of microtubule networks |
title_fullStr | Active contraction of microtubule networks |
title_full_unstemmed | Active contraction of microtubule networks |
title_short | Active contraction of microtubule networks |
title_sort | active contraction of microtubule networks |
topic | Biophysics and Structural Biology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4764591/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26701905 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10837 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT fosterpeterj activecontractionofmicrotubulenetworks AT furthauersebastian activecontractionofmicrotubulenetworks AT shelleymichaelj activecontractionofmicrotubulenetworks AT needlemandanielj activecontractionofmicrotubulenetworks |