ArticleThe Journal of cell biology1988
Dynamic instability of individual microtubules analyzed by video light microscopy: rate constants and transition frequencies.
Article in The Journal of cell biology, 1988. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 359 papers.
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Who cites it
359 citing papers in PubMed, 997 citations in OpenAlex.
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- On the curvature and relaxation of microtubule plus-end tips.Biophysical journal · 2026Article
- Emergent microtubule properties in a model of filament turnover and nucleation.Journal of theoretical biology · 2026Article
- Modeling actin-microtubule crosstalk in migrating cells.Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- Microtubule dynamics are defined by conformations and stability of clustered protofilaments.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Hydrolysis-deficient mosaic microtubules as faithful mimics of the GTP cap.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Phase separation of microtubule-binding proteins - implications for neuronal function and disease.Journal of cell science · 2024Review
- Preparation of Polarity-Marked Microtubules Using a Plus-End Capping DARPin.Bio-protocol · 2024Article
- Polymer dynamics of Alp7A reveals how two critical concentrations govern assembly of dynamically unstable actin-like proteins.Molecular biology of the cell · 2024Article
- Multi-camera Simultaneous Total Internal Reflection and Interference Reflection Microscopy.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Stable GDP-tubulin islands rescue dynamic microtubules.The Journal of cell biology · 2024Article
- Raman Spectroscopy Reveals Photobiomodulation-Induced α-Helix to β-Sheet Transition in Tubulins: Potential Implications for Alzheimer's and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases.Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- On the critical concentration for net assembly of dynamically unstable polymers.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Interface-acting nucleotide controls polymerization dynamics at microtubule plus- and minus-ends.eLife · 2024Article
- Measuring Mitotic Spindle and Microtubule Dynamics in Marine Embryos and Non-model Organisms.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2024Article
- Phase separation of +TIP networks regulates microtubule dynamics.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Tau, microtubule dynamics, and axonal transport: New paradigms for neurodegenerative disease.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2023Article
299 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
We have developed video microscopy methods to visualize the assembly and disassembly of individual microtubules at 33-ms intervals. Porcine brain tubulin, free of microtubule-associated proteins, was assembled onto axoneme fragments at 37 degrees C, and the dynamic behavior of the plus and minus ends of microtubules was analyzed for tubulin concentrations between 7 and 15.5 microM. Elongation and rapid shortening were distinctly different phases. At each end, the elongation phase was characterized by a second order association and a substantial first order dissociation reaction. Association rate constants were 8.9 and 4.3 microM-1 s-1 for the plus and minus ends, respectively; and the corresponding dissociation rate constants were 44 and 23 s-1. For both ends, the rate of tubulin dissociation equaled the rate of tubulin association at 5 microM. The rate of rapid shortening was similar at the two ends (plus = 733 s-1; minus = 915 s-1), and did not vary with tubulin concentration. Transitions between phases were abrupt and stochastic. As the tubulin concentration was increased, catastrophe frequency decreased at both ends, and rescue frequency increased dramatically at the minus end. This resulted in fewer rapid shortening phases at higher tubulin concentrations for both ends and shorter rapid shortening phases at the minus end. At each concentration, the frequency of catastrophe was slightly greater at the plus end, and the frequency of rescue was greater at the minus end. Our data demonstrate that microtubules assembled from pure tubulin undergo dynamic instability over a twofold range of tubulin concentrations, and that the dynamic instability of the plus and minus ends of microtubules can be significantly different. Our analysis indicates that this difference could produce treadmilling, and establishes general limits on the effectiveness of length redistribution as a measure of dynamic instability. Our results are consistent with the existence of a GTP cap during elongation, but are not consistent with existing GTP cap models.
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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.