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A stochastic model for microtubule dynamicity involving mixtures of tubulin isotypes
Author(s) -
Rezania Vahid,
Tuszynski Jack A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of quantum chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.484
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-461X
pISSN - 0020-7608
DOI - 10.1002/qua.21986
Subject(s) - tubulin , microtubule , gtp' , isotype , chemistry , biophysics , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , genetics , antibody , monoclonal antibody , enzyme
Experimental studies on the dynamicity of microtubules in a mixed αβ II /αβ III tubulin solution show a nonlinear dependence with respect to the relative αβ II /αβ III concentration. In this article, a physical model explaining this phenomenon in terms of tubulin dimers' affinity is introduced. We argue that lower affinities of tubulin dimers belonging to the same isotype than those that represent different isotypes indicate hitherto unsuspected influences of tubulin dimers on each other within a microtubule. We further show that similar influences between GTP‐GTP, GTP‐GDP, and GDP‐GDP tubulin dimers could also play a major role in the structure of the microtubule tip and hence in determining the microtubule's growth and/or shortening phases. These results can guide a future atomistic‐level model development. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2009