ISSN:
1615-6102
Keywords:
Microtubule
;
Tubulin
;
Annealing
;
Taxol
;
Kinetics
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Summary When taxol is present at concentrations approximately equal to the tubulin concentration, microtubules can be assembled from tubulin that has GDP at its exchangeable site. Such microtubules exchange subunits at their ends very slowly, but they undergo a relatively rapid increase in mean length upon incubation in a GDP-containing buffer. Since dynamic instability can be excluded under the conditions of the experiment, the length increase must result from end-to-end joining, or annealing. Measurements of the time-dependent change in length-distribution were analyzed on the assumption that joining takes place as a diffusion-controlled process, and numerical values of a length-independent apparent second-order rate constant were obtained. The rate constant decreases with increasing concentration of microtubules, probably due to excluded volume effects.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01349360
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