Visualization and Quantification of Microtubule Self-Repair

Since its discovery, several decades ago, microtubule dynamic instability has been the subject of countless studies that demonstrate its impact on cellular behavior in health and disease. Recent studies reveal a new dimension of microtubule dynamics. Microtubules are not only dynamic at their tips but also exhibit loss and incorporation of tubulin subunits along their lattice far from the tips. Although this phenomenon has been observed to occur under various conditions in vitro as well as in cells, many questions remain regarding the regulation of lattice dynamics and their contribution to overall microtubule network organization and function. Compared to microtubule tip dynamics, the dynamics of tubulin incorporation along the lattice are more challenging to investigate as they are hidden in classical experimental setups, which is likely the reason they were overlooked for a long time. In this chapter, we present a strategy to visualize and quantify the incorporation of tubulin subunits into the microtubule lattice in vitro. The proposed method does not require specialized equipment and can thus be carried out readily in most research laboratories.