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Related Experiment Videos

Intrinsic microtubule stability in interphase cells

A Lieuvin1, J C Labbé, M Dorée

  • 1Institut National de la Santé de la Recherche Medicale Unité 366, Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires de Grenoble, France.

The Journal of Cell Biology
|March 1, 1994
PubMed
Summary

Microtubules in living cells are intrinsically stable, not labile. Regulatory factors, like p34cdc2 kinase, confer apparent dynamic instability to these essential cellular structures.

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Area of Science:

  • Cell Biology
  • Cytoskeleton Dynamics
  • Molecular Regulation

Background:

  • Interphase microtubule arrays appear dynamic and labile in intact cells.
  • This apparent lability is often attributed to intrinsic polymer instability, similar to in vitro assembled microtubules.
  • However, the role of regulatory factors in cellular microtubule stability is less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the intrinsic stability of the microtubule network in living cells.
  • To identify regulatory factors that influence microtubule stability.
  • To elucidate the mechanism by which microtubule lability is conferred in vivo.

Main Methods:

  • Assessing microtubule resistance to cold, dilution, and nocodazole disassembly in various cell types (fibroblast, epithelial).

Related Experiment Videos

  • Investigating the effect of Ca2+ and p34cdc2 protein kinase on microtubule stability in lysed cells.
  • Comparing the effect of p34cdc2 with other protein kinases.

    • Main Results:

    • Fibroblast interphase microtubules demonstrated intrinsic stability against cold, dilution, and nocodazole in the absence of regulatory factors.
    • Epithelial cell microtubules were cold-labile but otherwise stable, similar to fibroblast microtubules.
    • p34cdc2 kinase, but not other tested kinases, induced complete microtubule destabilization in lysed cells.

    Conclusions:

    • The apparent lability of interphase microtubules is due to regulatory effectors, not intrinsic polymer instability.
    • p34cdc2 protein kinase or a similar kinase may confer microtubule lability by phosphorylating and inactivating microtubule-associated proteins.
    • This phosphorylation mechanism explains how otherwise stable microtubules acquire dynamic behavior in living cells.