Limited Resources Induce Bistability in Microtubule Length Regulation

Title

Limited Resources Induce Bistability in Microtubule Length Regulation

 Author

Rank, Matthias (Ludwig Maximilians University)
Mitra, Aniruddha (Technische Universität Dresden; Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics)
Reese, L. (TU Delft BN/Marileen Dogterom Lab; Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)
Diez, Stefan (Technische Universität Dresden; Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics)
Frey, Erwin (Ludwig Maximilians University)

Date

2018-04-05

 Abstract

The availability of protein is an important factor for the determination of the size of the mitotic spindle. Involved in spindle-size regulation is kinesin-8, a molecular motor and microtubule (MT) depolymerase, which is known to tightly control MT length. Here, we propose and analyze a theoretical model in which kinesin-induced MT depolymerization competes with spontaneous polymerization while supplies of both tubulin and kinesin are limited. In contrast to previous studies where resources were unconstrained, we find that, for a wide range of concentrations, MT length regulation is bistable. We test our predictions by conducting in vitro experiments and find that the bistable behavior manifests in a bimodal MT length distribution.


 To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:d87633bd-b6a5-45d0-8aa2-967839dcb1d8

 DOI

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.148101

 ISSN

0031-9007

 Source

Physical Review Letters, 120 (14)

 Part of collection

Institutional Repository

 Document type

journal article

 Rights

© 2018 Matthias Rank, Aniruddha Mitra, L. Reese, Stefan Diez, Erwin Frey
Files
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