Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 26, 2026

Directly Measuring Forces Within Reconstituted Active Microtubule Bundles
Published on: May 10, 2022
Conformational mechanism for the stability of microtubule-kinetochore attachments
Zsolt Bertalan1, Caterina A M La Porta2, Helder Maiato3
1Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation, Torino, Italy.
Abstract:
Regulating the stability of microtubule (MT)-kinetochore attachments is fundamental to avoiding mitotic errors and ensuring proper chromosome segregation during cell division. Although biochemical factors involved in this process have been identified, their mechanics still need to be better understood. Here we introduce and simulate a mechanical model of MT-kinetochore interactions in which the stability of the attachment is ruled by the geometrical conformations of curling MT-protofilaments entangled in kinetochore fibrils. The model allows us to reproduce, with good accuracy, in vitro experimental measurements of the detachment times of yeast kinetochores from MTs under external pulling forces. Numerical simulations suggest that geometrical features of MT-protofilaments may play an important role in the switch between stable and unstable attachments.
Related Concept Videos
Attachment of Sister Chromatids
Destabilization of Microtubules
Microtubule Instability
Microtubule Instability
Forces Acting on Chromosomes
Microtubules and motor proteins exert two types of forces on...
Anaphase A and B
Plus-end depolymerization releases tubulin heterodimers from the terminal region of the microtubule. As tubulin subunits are lost, the Ndc80 complexes detach...

