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. 1987 Aug;84(15):5257–5261. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.15.5257

Synchronous oscillations in microtubule polymerization.

M F Carlier, R Melki, D Pantaloni, T L Hill, Y Chen
PMCID: PMC298834  PMID: 3474652

Abstract

Under conditions where microtubule nucleation and growth are fast (i.e., high magnesium ion and tubulin concentrations and absence of glycerol), microtubule assembly in vitro exhibits an oscillatory regime preceding the establishment of steady state. The amplitude of the oscillations can represent greater than 50% of the maximum turbidity change and oscillations persist for up to 20 periods of 80 s each. Oscillations are accompanied by extensive length redistribution of microtubules. Preliminary work suggests that the oscillatory kinetics can be simulated using a model in which many microtubules undergo synchronous transitions between growing and rapidly depolymerizing phases, complicated by the kinetically limiting rate of nucleotide exchange on free tubulin.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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