Related papers: Microtubule Defects Influence Kinesin-Based Transp…
The molecular motor protein kinesin plays a key role in fundamental cellular processes such as intracellular transport, mitotic spindle formation, and cytokinesis, with important implications for neurodegenerative and cancer disease…
The availability of protein is an important factor for the determination of the size of the mitotic spindle. Involved in spindle-size regulation is kinesin-8, a molecular motor and microtubule (MT) depolymerase, which is known to tightly…
Microtubules, the primary components of the chromosome segregation machinery, are stabilized by longitudinal and lateral non-covalent bonds between the tubulin subunits. However, the thermodynamics of these bonds and the microtubule…
Microtubules (MTs) are dynamic protein filaments essential for intracellular organization and transport, particularly in long-lived cells such as neurons. The plus and minus ends of neuronal MTs switch between growth and shrinking phases,…
A common type of cytoskeletal morphology involves multiple converging microbutubules with their minus ends collected and stabilized by a microtubule organizing center (MTOC) in the interior of the cell. This arrangement enables the…
Cells often migrate on curved surfaces inside the body, such as curved tissues, blood vessels or highly curved protrusions of other cells. Recent \textit{in-vitro} experiments provide clear evidence that motile cells are affected by the…
With their longest dimension typically being less than 100 nm, molecular motors are significantly below the optical-resolution limit. Despite substantial advances in fluorescence-based imaging methodologies, labeling with beads remains…
Successful cell division requires a tight regulation of chromosome motion via the activity of molecular motors. Many of the key players at the origin of the forces generating the movement have been identified, but their spatial and temporal…
Membranes regulate transport in a wide variety of industrial and biological applications. The microscale geometry of the membrane can significantly affect overall transport through the membrane, but the precise nature of this multiscale…
Molecular motor proteins serve as an essential component of intracellular transport by generating forces to haul cargoes along cytoskeletal filaments. Two species of motors that are directed oppositely (e.g. kinesin, dynein) can be attached…
The repeating arrangement of tubulin dimers confers great mechanical strength to microtubules, which are used as scaffolds for intracellular macromolecular transport in cells and exploited in biohybrid devices. The crystalline order in a…
Various proteins adsorb spontaneously on the sidewalls of acid-oxidized single-walled carbon nanotubes. This simple non-specific binding scheme can be used to afford non-covalent protein-nanotube conjugates. The proteins are found to be…
Cell migration is a fundamental process for life and is highly dependent on the dynamical and mechanical properties of the cytoskeleton. Intensive physical and biochemical crosstalk between actin, microtubules, and intermediate filaments…
Faithful segregation of genetic material during cell division requires alignment of chromosomes between two spindle poles and attachment of their kinetochores to each of the poles. Failure of these complex dynamical processes leads to…
Motility is a fundamental survival strategy of bacteria to navigate porous environments. Swimming cells thrive in quiescent wetlands and sediments at the bottom of the marine water column, where they mediate many essential biogeochemical…
Molecular motors are found throughout the cells of the human body, and have many different and important roles. These micro-machines move along filament tracks, and have the ability to convert chemical energy into mechanical work that…
In the cellular phenomena of cytoplasmic streaming, molecular motors carrying cargo along a network of microtubules entrain the surrounding fluid. The piconewton forces produced by individual motors are sufficient to deform long…
The cargo motion in living cells transported by two species of motor protein with different intrinsic directionality is discussed in this study. Similar to single motor movement, cargo steps forward and backward along microtubule…
Bidirectional variants of stochastic many particle models for transport by molecular motors show a strong tendency to form macroscopic clusters on static lattices. Inspired by the fact that the microscopic tracks for molecular motors are…
The microtubule cytoskeleton is comprised of dynamic, polarized filaments that facilitate transport within the cell. Polarized microtubule arrays are key to facilitating cargo transport in long cells such as neurons. Microtubules also…