A thermodynamic model of microtubule assembly and disassembly

Bernard M A G Piette; Junli Liu; Kasper Peeters; Andrei Smertenko; Timothy Hawkins; Michael Deeks; Roy Quinlan; Wojciech J Zakrzewski; Patrick J Hussey

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0006378

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A thermodynamic model of microtubule assembly and disassembly

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A thermodynamic model of microtubule assembly and disassembly

Bernard M A G Piette, Junli Liu, Kasper Peeters, Andrei Smertenko, Timothy Hawkins, Michael Deeks, Roy Quinlan, Wojciech J Zakrzewski and Patrick J Hussey

PloS one, Vol.4(8), pp.e6378-e6378

08/11/2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0006378

Handle:

https://hdl.handle.net/2376/109657

PMCID: PMC2719802

PMID: 19668378

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Abstract

Hydrolysis

Thermodynamics

Microtubules - metabolism

Tubulin - metabolism

Guanosine Triphosphate - metabolism

Guanosine Diphosphate - metabolism

Binding Sites

Dimerization

Monte Carlo Method

Microtubules are self-assembling polymers whose dynamics are essential for the normal function of cellular processes including chromosome separation and cytokinesis. Therefore understanding what factors effect microtubule growth is fundamental to our understanding of the control of microtubule based processes. An important factor that determines the status of a microtubule, whether it is growing or shrinking, is the length of the GTP tubulin microtubule cap. Here, we derive a Monte Carlo model of the assembly and disassembly of microtubules. We use thermodynamic laws to reduce the number of parameters of our model and, in particular, we take into account the contribution of water to the entropy of the system. We fit all parameters of the model from published experimental data using the GTP tubulin dimer attachment rate and the lateral and longitudinal binding energies of GTP and GDP tubulin dimers at both ends. Also we calculate and incorporate the GTP hydrolysis rate. We have applied our model and can mimic published experimental data, which formerly suggested a single layer GTP tubulin dimer microtubule cap, to show that these data demonstrate that the GTP cap can fluctuate and can be several microns long.

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Title: A thermodynamic model of microtubule assembly and disassembly
Creators: Bernard M A G Piette - Biophysical Sciences Institute, University of Durham, Durham, UK. b.m.a.g.piette@durham.ac.uk
Junli Liu
Kasper Peeters
Andrei Smertenko
Timothy Hawkins
Michael Deeks
Roy Quinlan
Wojciech J Zakrzewski
Patrick J Hussey
Publication Details: PloS one, Vol.4(8), pp.e6378-e6378
Academic Unit: Biological Chemistry, Institute of; Mechanical and Materials Engineering, School of
Publisher: United States
Grant note: BB/F010788/1 / Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Identifiers: 99900547045701842
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article