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Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Quantitative Microtubule Fractionation Technique to Separate Stable Microtubules, Labile Microtubules, and Free Tubulin in Mouse Tissues
Published on: November 17, 2023
Limited Resources Induce Bistability in Microtubule Length Regulation
Matthias Rank1, Aniruddha Mitra2,3, Louis Reese4
1Arnold-Sommerfeld-Center for Theoretical Physics and Center for NanoScience, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Theresienstraße 37, 80333 München, Germany.
Abstract:
The availability of protein is an important factor for the determination of the size of the mitotic spindle. Involved in spindle-size regulation is kinesin-8, a molecular motor and microtubule (MT) depolymerase, which is known to tightly control MT length. Here, we propose and analyze a theoretical model in which kinesin-induced MT depolymerization competes with spontaneous polymerization while supplies of both tubulin and kinesin are limited. In contrast to previous studies where resources were unconstrained, we find that, for a wide range of concentrations, MT length regulation is bistable. We test our predictions by conducting in vitro experiments and find that the bistable behavior manifests in a bimodal MT length distribution.
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