Dynamic instability of native microtubules from squid axons is rare and independent of gliding and vesicle transport

Dieter Seitz-Tutter, George M. Langford, Dieter G. Weiss

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dynamic instability characterizes the steady-state behavior of microtubules in vitro whereby polymer mass remains constant, while individual microtubules in the population may either grow or shrink. Video-enhanced contrast light microscopy was used to directly observe dynamic length changes in native, MAP-containing microtubules from squid axoplasm. We wanted to determine whether dynamic instability characterizes the steady-state behavior of axoplasmic microtubules in vitro. The lengths of a representative population of over 400 microtubules were analyzed. "Dynamic" microtubules were found to represent about 2 % of the population. This observation is different from that described for cultured cells or microtubules assembled from PC-purified tubulin where most microtubules were either growing or shrinking.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)504-512
Number of pages9
JournalExperimental Cell Research
Volume178
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1988
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cell Biology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Dynamic instability of native microtubules from squid axons is rare and independent of gliding and vesicle transport'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this