Figure 2.

Pairwise comparisons of travel distance along two types of microtubule that differed in their respective likelihood of displaying supertwist (95% and 40%). (A and B) Experimental schematic (not to scale). We used the same kinesin/bead mixture to contrast transport between the two types of microtubules (A). We used the standard multiple-microtubule assay to minimize the influence of microtubule defects (B). (C) Distribution of few-kinesin travel along each microtubule type. Hatched bars at ∼9 μm indicate travel distances that exceeded our field of view. Solid line, best fit to a single exponential decay. Mean travel distance (d ± standard error) and sample size (n trajectories) are indicated. These distributions do not differ significantly from each other (p = 0.36, rank-sum test). To see this figure in color, go online.