ArticleThe Journal of cell biology1991
Microtubule depolymerization promotes particle and chromosome movement in vitro.
Article in The Journal of cell biology, 1991. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 90 papers.
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Who cites it
90 citing papers in PubMed, 215 citations in OpenAlex.
- Structure and function of the outer kinetochore.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2026Review
- Form and function in biological filaments: a physicist's review.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2025Review
- The mitotic chromosome periphery modulates chromosome mechanics.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Measuring and modeling forces generated by microtubules.Biophysical reviews · 2023Review
- Unveiling the catalytic mechanism of GTP hydrolysis in microtubules.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Herding of proteins by the ends of shrinking polymers.Physical review. E · 2023Article
- Atomistic Basis of Microtubule Dynamic Instability Assessed Via Multiscale Modeling.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2021Article
- Mechanical Mechanisms of Chromosome Segregation.Cells · 2021Review
- The kinetoplastid kinetochore protein KKT4 is an unconventional microtubule tip-coupling protein.The Journal of cell biology · 2018Article
- The role of tubulin-tubulin lattice contacts in the mechanism of microtubule dynamic instability.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2018Article
- Microtubule dynamics: an interplay of biochemistry and mechanics.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2018Review
- In vitro reconstitution of lateral to end-on conversion of kinetochore-microtubule attachments.Methods in cell biology · 2018Article
- Physical Limits on the Precision of Mitotic Spindle Positioning by Microtubule Pushing forces: Mechanics of mitotic spindle positioning.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2017Review
- Article
- Mechanisms of Chromosome Congression during Mitosis.Biology · 2017Review
- Review
- A Molecular View of Kinetochore Assembly and Function.Biology · 2017Review
- Xenopus extract approaches to studying microtubule organization and signaling in cytokinesis.Methods in cell biology · 2017Article
- A Brief History of Research on Mitotic Mechanisms.Biology · 2016Review
- Chromosome biorientation produces hundreds of piconewtons at a metazoan kinetochore.Nature communications · 2016Article
30 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
We have developed a system for studying the motions of cellular objects attached to depolymerizing microtubules in vitro. Radial arrays of microtubules were grown from lysed and extracted Tetrahymena cells attached to a glass coverslip that formed the top of a light microscope perfusion chamber. A preparation of chromosomes, which also contained vesicles, was then perfused into the chamber and allowed to bind to the microtubule array. The concentration of tubulin was then reduced by perfusing buffer that lacked both tubulin and nucleotide triphosphates, and the resulting microtubule depolymerization was observed by light microscopy. A fraction of the bound objects detached in the flow and washed away, while others stabilized the microtubules to which they were bound. Some of the particles and chromosomes, however, moved in toward the Tetrahymena ghost as their associated microtubules shortened. The mean speeds for particles and chromosomes were 26 +/- 20 and 15 +/- 12 microns/min, respectively. These motions occurred when nucleotide triphosphate levels were very low, as a result of either dilution or by the action of apyrase. Furthermore, the motions were unaffected by 100 microM sodium orthovanadate, suggesting that these forces are not the result of ATP hydrolysis by a minus end-directed mechanoenzyme. We conclude that microtubule depolymerization provided the free energy for the motions observed. All the objects that we studied in detail moved against a stream of buffer flowing at approximately 100 microns/s, so that the force being developed was at least 10(-7) dynes. This force is large enough to contribute to some forms of motility in living cells.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.