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Comment
. 2020 Aug 3;30(15):R888-R890.
doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.014.

Cell Biology: Social Distancing of Microtubule Ends Increases Their Assembly Rates

Linda Wordeman  1
Affiliations
Comment

Cell Biology: Social Distancing of Microtubule Ends Increases Their Assembly Rates

Linda Wordeman. Curr Biol. .

Abstract

Microtubules assembled from artificial centrosomes in microfluidic chambers of defined size are amenable to high resolution live imaging of their dynamics and space-filling properties. By using this experimental regime in conjunction with cytoplasmic extract, a new study finds that microtubule end density negatively influences their assembly rates.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Diagram of microfluidic flow chamber filled with cytosolic extract.
(A) Regions with denser spacing of microtubule ends assembled more slowly than regions with sparse ends. Speculation that microtubule assembly factors are depleted from regions with dense microtubule ends (purple region). (B) Quantification of microtubule end density. (C) Hypothetical depletion of factors (purple) with dual nucleation and assembly promoting activities during branched microtubule assembly [17]. MT, microtubule.
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