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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Jul 22.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Biol. 2013 Jul 3;23(14):1342–1348. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.05.059

Evolving tip structures can explain age-dependent microtubule catastrophe

Courtney E Coombes 1, Ami Yamamoto 1, Madeline R Kenzie 1, David J Odde 2, Melissa K Gardner 1,‡
PMCID: PMC3762219  NIHMSID: NIHMS502971  PMID: 23831290

Introductory Paragraph

Microtubules are key structural and transport elements in cells. The dynamics at microtubule ends are characterized by periods of slow growth, followed by stochastic switching events termed “catastrophes”, in which microtubules suddenly undergo rapid shortening [1]. Growing microtubules are thought to be protected from catastrophe by a GTP-tubulin “cap”: GTP-tubulin subunits add to the tips of growing microtubules, but are subsequently hydrolyzed to GDP-tubulin subunits once they are incorporated into the microtubule lattice [2–4]. Loss of the GTP-tubulin cap exposes GDP-tubulin subunits at the microtubule tip, resulting in a catastrophe event [5–9]. However, the mechanistic basis for sudden loss of the GTP-cap, leading to catastrophe, is not known. To investigate microtubule catastrophe events, we performed 3D mechanochemical simulations that account for interactions between neighboring protofilaments [10–12]. We found that there are two separate factors which contribute to catastrophe events in the 3D simulation: the GTP-tubulin cap size, which settles in to a steady-state value that depends on the free tubulin concentration during microtubule growth, and the structure of the microtubule tip. Importantly, 3D simulations predict, and both fluorescence and electron microscopy experiments confirm, that microtubule tips become more tapered as the microtubule grows. This effect destabilizes the tip and ultimately contributes to microtubule catastrophe. Thus, the likelihood of a catastrophe event may be intimately linked to the aging physical structure of the growing microtubule tip. These results have important consequences for catastrophe regulation in cells, as microtubule-associated proteins could promote catastrophe events in part by modifying microtubule tip structures.

Results and Discussion

A 3D mechanochemical model predicts stochastic catastrophe events

Growing microtubule tips are stabilized by a GTP-tubulin “cap”, such that loss of the GTP-cap exposes GDP-tubulin subunits, resulting in a catastrophe event [5–9]. However, the mechanistic basis for the abrupt loss of the GTP-cap, leading to catastrophe, is not known. To investigate microtubule catastrophe events, we performed 3D mechanochemical simulations of microtubule dynamics [10–12]. This type of simulation allows for a detailed dissection of the events which lead up to a simulated catastrophe event, and can therefore provide experimentally testable hypotheses for potential catastrophe mechanisms. Briefly, the 3D simulation accounts for (1) subunit arrivals at the tip of the microtubule, (2) subunit departures from the tip and (3) stochastic GTP hydrolysis of subunits that are buried in the lattice (Fig. 1A, see supplemental methods). In the simulation, a GTP-tubulin subunit is subject to stochastic hydrolysis once it is buried in the lattice by the addition of a single subunit on top of it. Hydrolysis of a buried subunit changes its stability in the lattice, such that GDP-tubulin subunits that are exposed at the microtubule tip will rapidly dissociate from the lattice. In contrast to 1D models where protofilaments are regarded as independent entities, the 3D model explicitly accounts for both lateral and longitudinal bonds between tubulin subunits in the lattice. Here, interactions between protofilaments can stabilize subunits in the lattice via bonding with lateral neighbors.

Figure 1. A 3D mechanochemical model predicts age-dependent catastrophe.

Figure 1

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(A) The 3D simulation accounts for subunit arrivals at the tip of the microtubule (kon, PF*) and subunit departures from the tip (koff, PF*) [12]. Stochastic GTP hydrolysis occurs at a constant rate (khydrolysis) [11], which imposes an energetic penalty on ΔG°total that favors subunit loss (kB=Boltzmann’s constant, T=absolute temperature). (B) The 3D simulation predicts growth events followed by catastrophe (black arrows). (C) Growth rates (green markers), shortening rates (blue markers), and catastrophe frequencies (red markers) are compared to experimental data (dashed lines [13]). (D) Simulated catastrophe frequency vs microtubule growth time (Error bars=SE).

As the stochastic 3D simulation proceeds, the microtubule tip structure naturally evolves as subunits arrive and depart from the tip of each protofilament. In addition, the energetic penalty introduced by stochastic hydrolysis of buried subunits in the lattice produces a behavior in which slow microtubule growth is followed by periods of rapid shortening (Fig. 1B). We characterized these large, rapid shortening events as catastrophes (Fig. 1B, black arrows). Note that the smaller shortening events during the growth phase are slower in their off-rate than rapid shortening, and they do not involve uncapping of the microtubule, as described previously [10].

3D model simulations predict age-dependent catastrophe events

To verify that our simulated dynamic instability behavior approximated previously published in vitro experimental data, we measured catastrophe frequency, growth rates, and shortening rates in the 3D simulation for three different GTP-tubulin concentrations (Fig. 1C). Growth and shortening rates were consistent with previous experimental observations [13, 14]. Simulated catastrophe events occurred more frequently than in previous experimental observations (Fig 1C). The simulated catastrophe frequency is strongly influenced by the largely unconstrained hydrolysis rate simulation parameter. For simulations in this work, we conservatively selected a faster hydrolysis rate, which led to smaller cap sizes and relatively short catastrophe times (see supplemental methods). However, our conclusions are robust over a range of values for the simulated hydrolysis rate parameter (Fig. S1).

Previous analysis of in vitro and in vivo data showed that experimental catastrophe frequencies are age-dependent: catastrophe events are less likely for young microtubules, while older microtubules catastrophe more frequently [13, 15–17]. Thus, microtubules accumulate catastrophe-promoting features over time as they grow.

To directly test whether younger microtubules are less likely to catastrophe than older microtubules in the 3D simulation, we calculated the time-dependent catastrophe frequency, f± (t), as a function of microtubule age, t [13, 15] (see supplemental material). We found that the catastrophe frequency increased as a function of microtubule growing time in the 3D simulation (Fig. 1D), similar to previous experimental results [13, 15, 16].

Thus, the 3D simulation predicts that catastrophe-promoting features are accumulated and remembered over time in the microtubule lattice. We then asked whether there were any microtubule features in the simulation that were time-dependent, as this could explain why younger microtubules would be less likely to catastrophe than older microtubules.

Tip structures exhibit aging in the 3D model

It is thought that the growing microtubule tip is protected from catastrophe by a “GTPcap” [2–4, 6, 7]. Therefore, if the GTP-cap size decays as a function of time during microtubule growth, this would lead to increased catastrophe frequency for older microtubules. We tested this mechanism for age-dependent catastrophe by calculating the total number of GTP-tubulin subunits in the lattice at 1 s intervals during simulated microtubule growth, and then by averaging these values over 10–20 separately growing microtubules. Strikingly, after an initial period of cap establishment, the mean GTP-cap size rapidly settled in to a steady-state value (Fig. 2A, green, t1/2 ~ 5 sec).

Figure 2. The 3D simulation predicts that microtubule tips become more tapered over time, while the average GTP-cap size remains stable.

Figure 2

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(A) After initial rapid growth, the GTP-cap size remains stable (green). In contrast, the tip standard deviation increases monotonically with growth time (purple, 7 µM tubulin, N=14; inset shows 3 individual microtubule traces). (B) Animated simulation output over time (red-GMPCPP seed; green-GTP tubulin; blue-GDP tubulin). Simulated tip standard deviation (C), GTP-cap size (D) and catastrophe frequency (E) are shown at early and late time points (Error bars=SE).

Because the simulated GTP-cap size remained constant as a function of microtubule age, we did not see evidence for age-dependent decay of the GTP-cap. However, in analyzing the behavior of the 3D simulation, we noted that the microtubule tip structure appeared to be evolving as a function of microtubule age (Fig. 2B). Therefore, we asked whether the structure of the microtubule tip was changing over time in the simulation, and if the tip structure configuration could play a role in the initiation of a catastrophe event. The possibility that microtubule tip structure is important for microtubule catastrophe has been suggested in previous modeling efforts [11, 18–20].

At any given time, the tip of the microtubule may be blunt (Fig. 2B, top), or more tapered (Fig. 2B, bottom). To quantitatively measure changes in simulated microtubule tip structure, we calculated the length (in nm) of each microtubule protofilament within a microtubule, and then calculated the standard deviation of protofilament lengths (which we term “tip standard deviation”). For tips that are blunt (Fig 2B, top), the tip standard deviation is low, and for tips that are tapered, the tip standard deviation is high (Fig. 2B, bottom). Thus, we used this metric to evaluate tip structure changes during simulated microtubule growth.

Surprisingly, we found that simulated microtubule tip structures were not constant over time, but rather became increasingly more tapered as the microtubule grew. This effect is demonstrated in the animated simulation output (Fig. 2B), which shows the tip standard deviation increasing over time. The quantitative tip standard deviation results demonstrate that the microtubule tips start out blunt when they nucleate from the seed (time=0), but then increase in taper as the microtubule grows (Fig. 2A, purple). We note that the individual microtubule tips are highly dynamic, and therefore have rapidly fluctuating tip structures (see Fig. 2A, inset, for typical individual tip standard deviation traces over time). Therefore, the monotonic increase in tip standard deviation represents an average behavior over 10–20 simulated microtubules.

We then asked how tubulin concentration would affect tip structure evolution. We did this by comparing the tip standard deviations of younger (“early”) and older (“late”) microtubules (black arrows in Fig. 2A denote specific time periods analyzed). We found that higher free tubulin concentrations led to a faster evolution of tip structures with time, such that the simulated tip standard deviations were larger at both early and late time periods for higher tubulin concentrations (Fig. 2C). The simulation prediction that overall tip structures are more tapered at higher free tubulin concentrations is consistent with electron microscopy data [21, 22], and with our previous experimental results using Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy [23]. However, even though simulated tip structures were more tapered with increasing free tubulin concentration, the striking difference in tip standard deviation between early and late time points was present regardless of concentration (Fig. 2C).

Because the on-rate of GTP-tubulin subunits increases at higher free tubulin concentrations (while the hydrolysis rate remains constant) the overall simulated GTP-cap size increases with increasing free tubulin concentration (Fig. 2D). However, in contrast to the tip standard deviation, the average GTP-cap size does not depend on microtubule age: the cap size remained constant regardless of early or late time points at all simulated tubulin concentrations (Fig 2D). Thus, the simulated GTP-cap size is not aging. In contrast, there is a large difference in catastrophe frequency between the early and late time points regardless of tubulin concentration (Fig. 2E). Therefore, we conclude that (1) the simulated microtubules are aging, such that catastrophe events are more likely for older microtubules than for young, early-growing microtubules, and (2) the aging process may be dictated by an increase in tip standard deviation over time, such that microtubule tips evolve from a blunt configuration for young microtubules to more tapered tips for older microtubules.

Tip structures demonstrate aging for in vitro microtubules as measured by TIRF microscopy

The 3D simulation predicts that catastrophe events are more frequent for older, longer microtubules. This observation is consistent with previously published in vitro experimental results, which demonstrated that the catastrophe frequency of a microtubule depends on the length of time that the microtubule has been growing [13, 15, 16]. Therefore, the simulation prediction that microtubule tip structures become more tapered over time may provide a key insight into the age-dependent mechanism of catastrophe.

Using TIRF microscopy of microtubules grown in vitro, we directly tested the simulation prediction that tip structures evolve during microtubule growth, such that the tips become more tapered over time. Here, we used green Alexa-488 labeled GTP-microtubules grown from coverslip-attached rhodamine-labeled GMPCPP seeds, as previously described [24], and collected single time-point images of different green microtubules growing from the red seeds (Fig. 3A, top). We analyzed the green microtubule extensions by measuring green fluorescence intensity as a function of distance from the red/green transition point (Fig. 3A, bottom), and then calculated the average fluorescence intensity distributions as a function of microtubule length (Fig. 3A, bottom).

Figure 3. Tip taper increases with microtubule age, both in vitro and in vivo.

Figure 3

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(A) Green Alexa- 488 GTP-tubulin microtubule extensions are grown from red GMPCPP-stabilized seeds (left, top). Green fluorescence intensity is plotted as a function of distance from the red/green transition point (left, bottom). Quantitative tip standard is estimated by Gaussian survival function fitting (right). (B) Tip structures are directly measured using TEM (red arrows denote a blunt tip, while yellow arrows denote a more tapered tip; N=29 microtubules). (C) Microtubules are dual-labeled in budding yeast cells: Green GFP-Tub1 labels microtubules and red Bim1- mCherry labels microtubule plus-ends (scale bar 2 µm). (D) Both the microtubule tip standard deviation (green), and the Bim1 signal width (red) increase as a function of in vivo microtubule length (right). (E) Green Alexa-488 GMPCPP microtubule extensions are grown from red GMPCPP-stabilized seeds (left, top), and the average fluorescence intensity as a function of microtubule length is plotted (left, bottom). GMPCPP-tubulin microtubule tips are more tapered at longer microtubule lengths (right; red: 1.6 µM GMPCPP-tubulin; blue: 0.7 µM GMPCPP-tubulin) (Error bars=SE).

Qualitative examination of the fluorescence intensity data suggests that the green microtubule-associated fluorescence drops off more quickly to background when microtubules are short (Fig. 3A, left, red), as compared to the longer microtubules (Fig. 3A, left, blue). To quantitatively compare the drop-off in fluorescence intensity at microtubule ends, we calculated the microtubule tip standard deviation by fitting the fluorescence data at microtubule ends to a Gaussian survival function, as previously described [23, 25]. This approach allows for quantitative evaluation of microtubule end structures with nanometer scale resolution using fluorescence microscopy, such that smaller “tip standard deviation” values correspond to blunt microtubule tips, and larger “tip standard deviation” measurements correspond to tapered microtubule ends. Consistent with our qualitative observations, we found that the microtubule tip standard deviation was increased for longer microtubule lengths (Fig. 3A, right, probability of zero slope for 7 µM: p<5×10−4). In addition, higher tubulin concentrations led to more rapid tip structure evolution as compared to low concentrations, such that larger experimental tip standard deviations were observed at 8 and 12 µM Tubulin (Fig. 3A, right; magenta, purple) as compared to 7 µM (green) for similar microtubule lengths. Thus, similar to simulation predictions (Fig. 2C), in vitro microtubule tip structures evolve as a function of time, and higher tubulin concentrations lead to a faster tip structure evolution. These results are also consistent with our measurements of in vitro EB1-GFP distribution as a function of microtubule length (Fig. S2).

Tip Structures demonstrate aging for in vitro microtubules as measured by electron microscopy

To verify our quantitative TIRF microscopy results, we used Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) to directly measure microtubule tip structures. Here, we evaluated the “tip extension” length by measuring the difference between the shortest and the longest protofilaments at the microtubule tip (Fig. 3B). A small difference in protofilament lengths is typical of a blunt tip (Fig. 3B, left, red arrows), while a larger difference in protofilament lengths at a microtubule tip is typical of a tapered tip (Fig. 3B, left, yellow arrows). We found that, similar to our fluorescence microscopy measurements, increasing tip extension lengths were observed for longer microtubules relative to shorter microtubules (Fig. 3B, right). Our TEM results are similar to previously published cryo-electron microscopy results in which longer tip extensions were observed as a function of longer microtubule assembly times (Fig. S3) [21], and our independent measurements of these previously published cryo-electron microscopy images demonstrate that tip extension length increases for longer microtubules as well (Fig. S3).

Tip structures demonstrate aging for in vivo budding yeast microtubules as measured by TIRF microscopy

Our experimental results confirm the simulation prediction that in vitro tip structures evolve during microtubule growth, such that microtubule tips become more tapered over time. To assess whether microtubules inside of cells also evolve during growth, we used TIRF microscopy to visualize microtubules in wild-type yeast cells that were labeled with GFP-Tub1 and Bim1-mCherry (Fig 3C). Bim1 is the yeast homolog of the plus-end binding protein EB1, and thus similarly targets the tips of growing microtubules [26]. We collected single time-point images of individual microtubules growing from spindle poles (Fig. 3C). As in the in vitro studies, we analyzed the green microtubules by measuring green fluorescence intensity as a function of microtubule length. As above, qualitative examination of the binned fluorescence intensity data suggests that the green microtubule-associated fluorescence drops off more quickly to background when microtubules are short (Fig. 3D, left, red), as compared to the longer microtubules (Fig. 3D, left, purple). However, the presence of multiple microtubules captured at the spindle pole results in higher fluorescence immediately at the pole. Therefore, we limited our quantitative analysis to the data points near to the microtubule tip (Fig. 3D, left, discarded points circled in black). In addition, we collected independent data on the spatial distribution (“signal width”) of the Bim1-mCherry fluorescence (Fig. 3D, center).

To quantitatively compare the drop-off in tubulin-GFP fluorescence intensity at microtubule plus-ends, we calculated the microtubule tip standard deviation as described above [16, 18]. Consistent with our in vitro data, we found that the microtubule tip standard deviation increased for longer microtubule lengths (Fig. 3D, right, green). In addition, the increase in microtubule tip standard deviation for longer microtubules was correlated with a redistribution of Bim1-mCherry localization at the microtubule tip: the Bim1-mCherry signal width was broader for longer microtubules (Fig. 3D, right, red). Thus, similar to simulation predictions (Fig. 2C), we conclude that in vivo microtubule tip structures become more tapered over time. These results are consistent with previous in vivo observations of age-dependent catastrophe behavior in neuronal microtubules [17].

Tip structure aging is independent of GTP hydrolysis

The 3D simulation predicts that tip structures are more tapered for older, longer microtubules, and also that this tip structure aging process is independent of GTP hydrolysis rate (Fig. S1). To test this prediction, we used GMPCPP, which is a slowly-hydrolyzable analog of GTP [27]. Here, Alexa-488 labeled GMPCPP-microtubules were grown from coverslip-attached rhodamine-labeled GMPCPP seeds, and then the green microtubule extensions were analyzed as described above to quantitatively evaluate microtubule end structures (Fig. 3E, left). We found that the microtubule tip standard deviation was higher at longer microtubule lengths even in the absence of GTP hydrolysis (Fig. 3E). In addition, a higher free GMPCPP-tubulin concentration also led to more tapered tips (Fig. 3E, right; 0.7 µM GMPCPP-tubulin (blue) vs. 1.6 µM GMPCPP-tubulin (red)). Therefore, we conclude that the microtubule tip structure aging process does not require GTP hydrolysis.

Disruption of tip structure aging leads to loss of age-dependent catastrophe in simulation

If catastrophe events are sensitive to microtubule tip structure, it may be that microtubule-associated proteins could promote catastrophe events in cells by modifying microtubule tip structures. Thus, we tested whether a simulated molecular motor which acts specifically to modify microtubule tip structures could change the dependence of catastrophe frequency on microtubule aging.

To test whether stochastic modification of microtubule tip structures by a microtubule-associated protein could change the overall catastrophe behavior of microtubules, a tip-modifying molecular motor was added to the 3D microtubule simulation (Fig. 4A, left). Similar to previously published data on the depolymerizing Kinesin-13 molecular motor MCAK, the simulated molecular motor randomly attached to a microtubule, and diffused along a microtubule until it reached the microtubule end [28, 29] (simulation parameters in Table S1).

Figure 4. A model for age-dependent microtubule catastrophe.

Figure 4

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(A) A protofilament-kinking molecular motor is added to the 3D simulation (left), which disrupts the microtubule tip structure, such that the tip structure evolves quickly and then fluctuates (center). As a result, microtubule catastrophe frequency is relatively constant as a function of microtubule growing time (right). (B) The depolymerizing molecular motor MCAK disrupts microtubule tip structures, similar to simulation results for a protofilament-kinking molecular motor (purple, tubulin controls; red, tubulin plus MCAK) (scale bar 2 µm). (C) Simulated catastrophe frequency is higher for more tapered tip structures (left). Here, catastrophe frequency data from Fig. 1D is plotted against the tip standard deviation data from Fig. 2A by selecting the appropriate values for each at similar microtubule growing times. Increased off-rates at tapered tips could create localized “hot spots” of less stable subunits (right; green vs blue). (D) A speculative model for the antagonistic effects of tip structure and GTP-cap. Here, increasingly tapered and destabilized tip structures at moderate tubulin concentrations (left, red) could antagonize the stabilizing effect of the GTP-cap size (left, green). However, the tip structure effect may ultimately saturate at high tubulin concentrations, such that the stabilizing effect of a substantial GTP-cap would then begin to dominate (left, blue). This model could explain previously published in vitro data in which the net microtubule lifetime is relatively constant at moderate tubulin concentrations, but increases rapidly at higher concentrations (right, [14], Error bars =SE). (Note, this data was digitized from [14], and then transformed from catastrophe frequency (s−1) into lifetime (s) by taking the inverse of each number)

Once at the microtubule end, the simulated motor acted to outwardly curl its attached protofilament, processively moving towards the microtubule minus-end with the depolymerizing protofilament [30]. Importantly, this type of motor activity disrupted the evolution of simulated tip structures: the microtubule tip standard deviation did not monotonically increase as a function of growth time as was observed in control simulations (Fig. 4A, center, compare to Fig. 2A). Rather, the motor produced fluctuating tip structures after a short initial elongation period.

Strikingly, disruption of tip structure evolution also disrupted the age dependence of catastrophe. Similar to previously published experimental results for MCAK [13], the dependence of catastrophe frequency on microtubule age was reduced as compared to control simulations (Fig 4A, right, compare to Fig. 1D). These results confirm that catastrophe events are linked to tip structures in the 3D mechanochemical simulation.

Because MCAK has been reported to be a catastrophe promoter that disrupts the age-dependent catastrophe process [13, 29, 31], we were curious as to whether the presence of MCAK would also disrupt in vitro microtubule tip structure as measured by fluorescence microscopy. Thus, we experimentally evaluated microtubule tip structures as described above, only we modified the described assay by adding 9 nM of MCAK, as previously described [13] (Fig. 4B, left). Similar to the simulation results with a protofilament kinking motor (Fig. 4A), we found that the measured tip standard deviation did not steadily increase as a function of microtubule length as was observed for the control microtubules (Fig. 4B, right). Rather, the microtubule tip was moderately tapered at short microtubule lengths, and then remained similarly tapered regardless of microtubule length. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that tip structure evolution is related to the aging process for microtubule catastrophe.

Conclusions

The microtubule tip becomes more tapered over time as a microtubule grows, both experimentally and in simulation. We propose that the evolution of tip structures during microtubule growth provides a natural explanation for age-dependent catastrophe. Here, new microtubules first start growing with a blunt tip, which does not predispose a microtubule to catastrophe, and thus young microtubules will have a lower catastrophe frequency (Fig. 4C, left). However, as a microtubule grows, the tip structure becomes more tapered, which ultimately acts to destabilize the microtubule and increase the likelihood of a catastrophe event (Fig. 4C, left).

Why would an increase in tip taper predispose a microtubule to catastrophe? One possibility is that a tapered tip could lead to a gradient in tubulin subunit off-rates from the end: while a majority of the protofilament tips are relatively stable, protofilaments at tapered tips with fewer lateral neighbors could be quite unstable, and thus represent “hot spots” for GTP-cap loss (Fig. 4C, right: note blue/green tubulin subunit stability gradient due to tapered tip configuration). In this fashion, GTP-cap loss on a critical number of unstable protofilaments could thus predispose a microtubule with a highly tapered tip structure to catastrophe.

We propose that there may be a critical minimum number of unstable or uncapped protofilaments that strongly predispose a microtubule to catastrophe. This idea is consistent with the observation that the simulated tip structure effect appears to saturate at higher tip standard deviations (Fig. 4C, left). Here, additional unstable protofilaments past a critical minimum number may not have a substantial effect on increasing catastrophe frequency.

The average microtubule tip structure depends on tubulin concentration, such that tip structures are more tapered at higher tubulin concentrations. We hypothesize that catastrophe frequency is regulated both by the size of the GTP-cap, and also by the tip structure configuration at the end of a growing microtubule. Here, increasingly tapered and unstable tip structures at moderate tubulin concentrations could antagonize the stabilizing effect of a larger cap size with increasing tubulin concentrations (Fig. 4D, left). However, the tip structure effect may ultimately saturate at high tubulin concentrations, and the stabilizing effect of a substantial GTP-cap would then begin to dominate (Fig. 4D, left, blue) [32]. This speculative model could explain previously published in vitro data in which the net microtubule lifetime is relatively constant at moderate tubulin concentrations, but increases rapidly at higher concentrations (Fig. 4D, right, [13, 14, 33]).

We conclude that the likelihood of a catastrophe event is intimately linked to the aging physical structure of the growing microtubule tip. As a consequence, microtubule-associated proteins at sub-stoichiometric concentrations could promote catastrophe events in part by modifying microtubule tip structures inside of cells.

Supplementary Material

01

Highlights.

  1. Microtubule tips become more tapered as the microtubule ages.

  2. Microtubule tip aging does not depend on hydrolysis of GTP-tubulin.

  3. Catastrophe events may be linked to the aging physical structure of the growing microtubule tip.

  4. Proteins could promote catastrophe events by modifying microtubule tip structures.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Mark McClellan for experimental technical assistance, and Dr. Marija Zanic for the gift of EB1-GFP protein. This work was supported by the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences (supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts) (MKG), NIH-GM103833 (MKG), and NIH-GM071522 (DJO). The TEM work was carried out in the Characterization Facility at the University of Minnesota, a member of the NSF-funded Materials Research Facilities Network (www.mrfn.org) via the MRSEC program.

Footnotes

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