Figure 4.

Microtubule model. Flowchart of polymerization and depolymerization mechanism. The time variable timeToChange is decremented at the beginning of every time step in the simulation. If parameter timeToChange becomes negative, the microtubule switches from polymerization into depolymerization, or vice versa. During the switch, timeToChange is updated based on the characteristic duration of polymerization, tPoly, or depolymerization, tDepoly. All elements in the microtubule are updated according to the current dynamic state of the microtubule.