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Lipopolysaccharide‐caused fragmentation of individual microtubules in vitro observed by video‐enhanced differential interference contrast microscopy
Author(s) -
Böhm Konrad J,
Vater Wolfram,
Russwurm Stefan,
Reinhart Konrad,
Unger Eberhard
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(98)00220-8
Subject(s) - microtubule , differential interference contrast microscopy , fragmentation (computing) , tubulin , microbiology and biotechnology , video microscopy , in vitro , fluorescence microscope , lipopolysaccharide , biophysics , chemistry , biology , microscopy , biochemistry , immunology , fluorescence , pathology , medicine , optics , physics , ecology
Microtubule disassembly is commonly believed to be a process of endwise tubulin dimer release. The present study demonstrates by video interference contrast microscopy that Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) caused microtubule disassembly in vitro by both endwise shortening and fragmentation. In contrast, the microtubules were only shortened from their ends in the presence of DNA, used as another example of a macromolecular microtubule effector. LPS‐caused microtubule fragmentation was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. Because of its ability to induce both fragmentation and endwise shortening, LPS, which is involved in sepsis pathogenesis, has to be regarded as a highly active microtubule‐destabilizing agent.