The Relationship between Microtubule Birth and Death

Abstract

Microtubules are born and reborn continuously, even during quiescence. These polymers are nucleated from templates, namely gamma-tubulin ring complexes and severed microtubule ends. Interestingly, the rate of microtubule nucleation increases as cells enter mitosis, and all cells nucleate microtubules in distinct regions of their cytoplasms. How are these spatial and temporal profiles for microtubule nucleation established? I will discuss my lab‘s recent attempts to answer this question using a mix of single-molecule biophysics, cell biology, and structural biology. I will describe how the process of microtubule “death” (catastrophe) relates to the process of microtubule “birth” (nucleation). I will argue that understanding how the microtubule cytoskeleton is destroyed is critical to understanding how it is first built.