Letter abstract
Nature Cell Biology 7, 1213 - 1218 (2005)
Published online: 6 November 2005 | doi:10.1038/ncb1332
There is an Erratum (December 2005) associated with this Letter.
Centering of a radial microtubule array by translocation along microtubules spontaneously nucleated in the cytoplasm
Viacheslav Malikov1, Eric N. Cytrynbaum2, Anna Kashina3, Alexander Mogilner4 & Vladimir Rodionov1
Positioning of a radial array of microtubules (MTs) in the cell centre is crucial for cytoplasmic organization, but the mechanisms of such centering are difficult to study in intact cells that have pre-formed radial arrays. Here, we use cytoplasmic fragments of melanophores, and cytoplasts of BS-C-1 cells to study MT centering mechanisms. Using live imaging and computer modelling, we show that the MT aster finds a central location in the cytoplasm by moving along spontaneously nucleated non-astral MTs towards a point at which MT nucleation events occur equally on all sides. We hypothesize that similar mechanisms, in the presence of the centrosome, contribute to this centering mechanism and ensure the robustness of cytoplasmic organization.
- Department of Cell Biology and Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06032-1507, USA.
- Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada.
- Department of Animal Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
- Laboratory of Cell and Computational Biology, Department of Mathematics and Center for Genetics and Development, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Correspondence to: Vladimir Rodionov1 e-mail: rodionov@nso.uchc.edu
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