Work

Cilia-Like Beating of Active Microtubule Bundles

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: The mechanism that drives the regular beating of individual cilia and flagella, as well as dense ciliary fields, remains unclear. We describe a minimal model system, composed of microtubules and molecular motors, which self-assemble into active bundles exhibiting beating patterns reminiscent of those found in eukaryotic cilia and flagella. These observations suggest that hundreds of molecular motors, acting within an elastic microtubule bundle, spontaneously synchronize their activity to generate large-scale oscillations. Furthermore, we also demonstrate that densely packed, actively bending bundles spontaneously synchronize their beating patterns to produce collective behavior similar to metachronal waves observed in ciliary fields. The simple in vitro system described here could provide insights into beating of isolated eukaryotic cilia and flagella, as well as their synchronization in dense ciliary fields.

Source: Science

DOI: 10.1126/science.1203963

Authors: Timothy Sanchez, David Welch, Daniela Nicastro, Zvonimir Dogic

Institution: Brandeis University

Language: English

Topic: Microtubule and mitosis dynamics

Subfield: Cell Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Awards: Macromolecular Structure Mechanism, Formin assisted turnover of actin filaments in vitro and in vivo, Structure and Function of Complexes that Regulate Ciliary Motility