Dynamic Instability
Dynamic Instability - Related Videos
06:02
Live Imaging to Study Microtubule Dynamic Instability in Taxane-resistant Breast Cancers
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Cited by 3 •
2017
In this paper, we report a protocol describing an in vivo method to measure microtubule dynamic instability in docetaxel-resistant breast cancer cells (MCF-7TXT). In this method, a deconvolution microscopy imaging system is used to detect the expression of GFP-tubulin in target cells.
06:42
Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
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Cited by 5 •
2017
We present a protocol for preparing a two-layer density-stratified liquid that can be spun-up into solid body rotation and subsequently induced into Rayleigh-Taylor instability by applying a gradient magnetic field.
02:17
Microtubule Instability
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2023
Microtubules are hollow cylindrical filaments having a diameter of approximately 25 nm and a length that varies from 200 nm to 25 μm. GTP-bound tubulin subunits form αβ-heterodimers for microtubule assembly. These core building blocks interact longitudinally, polymerizing into protofilaments. The protofilaments then interact with one another through lateral bonding forces to form stable cylindrical microtubules. These cylindrical filaments are dynamic as they undergo repeated assembly and...
02:17
Microtubule Instability
0 Views •
2021
Microtubules are hollow cylindrical filaments having a diameter of approximately 25 nm and a length that varies from 200 nm to 25 μm. GTP-bound tubulin subunits form αβ-heterodimers for microtubule assembly. These core building blocks interact longitudinally, polymerizing into protofilaments. The protofilaments then interact with one another through lateral bonding forces to form stable cylindrical microtubules. These cylindrical filaments are dynamic as they undergo repeated assembly and...
08:46
Studying Age-dependent Genomic Instability using the S. cerevisiae Chronological Lifespan Model
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Cited by 13 •
2011
Here we describe a set of DNA mutation assays that can be combined with the yeast chronological life span model to study the genes/pathways that regulate or contribute to genomic DNA instability during aging.
FAQs
The GTP cap acts as a stabilizing region at a microtubule end. While GTP-bound tubulin continues to add, the cap helps maintain polymer integrity. If the cap disappears, the exposed end becomes prone to rapid shortening, producing catastrophe. Cap status therefore links tubulin chemistry to large-scale cytoskeletal reorganization.
Catastrophe is the transition from microtubule growth to shrinkage after stabilizing conditions at the polymer end are lost. Rescue is the opposite functional shift, in which renewed stabilization permits growth to resume. These transitions let cells repeatedly alter microtubule length instead of maintaining a fixed cytoskeletal arrangement.
Alternating growth and shrinkage allows microtubules to extend into different regions and then retract when they are no longer stabilized. This search behavior helps reorganize the internal architecture of a cell and supports the positioning of organelles. The network can therefore adapt its spatial organization without requiring permanent polymer structures.
Microtubule dynamic instability contributes to several coordinated cellular activities, including organelle positioning, intracellular transport, cell-shape regulation, movement, and chromosome segregation. Its importance comes from allowing the microtubule network to change its organization as cellular needs shift. During cell division, these dynamics are especially relevant to arranging and separating chromosomes.
Analysis of dynamic instability can connect molecular changes at microtubule ends with broader cellular outcomes. Researchers can use this relationship to understand how cells regulate internal architecture, shape, movement, organelle placement, and division. The process provides a framework for interpreting how changes in cytoskeletal organization produce distinct biological effects.
Because dynamic instability controls how microtubule networks reorganize, disturbances in this process can affect essential cellular functions such as transport, shape regulation, movement, and chromosome segregation. Studying the process therefore helps explain disease-related cytoskeletal disruption and provides a basis for understanding how drugs that alter microtubule dynamics influence cells.