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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Oct 17.
Published in final edited form as: Cell. 2008 Oct 17;135(2):322–333. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2008.08.038

Figure 6. Beads coated with Ndc80 complex moving with depolymerizing MTs in vitro.

Figure 6

A. Experimental design (not to scale). Bovine brain MTs were capped with GMPCPP-assembled, rhodamine-labeled tubulin, so they would break up upon illumination with green light, permitting MT depolymerization.

B. Bead position at times shown (sec); last time shows trajectory of bead center for the entire motion.

C. Distances from bead to pellicle as a function of time for 7 separate experiments. Movement began shortly after the MT cap was removed.

D. Two consecutive times during the life of a PF from a depolymerizing MT that is stably attached to a “load”. The propagation of depolymerization, reflected in a progression of PF position, allows recycling KFs to transmit force to the load without a noticeable change in PF curvature where the KFs attach.