Federal Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Moscow, Russia

1 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Biology

Preparation of Segmented Microtubules to Study Motions Driven by the Disassembling Microtubule Ends

Vladimir A. Volkov^1,2, Anatoly V. Zaytsev³, Ekaterina L. Grishchuk³

¹Center for Theoretical Problems of Physicochemical Pharmacology, Russian Academy of Sciences, ²Federal Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Moscow, Russia, ³Physiology Department, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Microtubules are inherently unstable polymers, and their switching between growth and shortening is stochastic and difficult to control. Here we describe protocols using segmented microtubules with photoablatable stabilizing caps. Depolymerization of segmented microtubules can be triggered with high temporal and spatial resolution, thereby assisting analysis of motions with the disassembling microtubule ends.