Microtubule self-organization is gravity-dependent.
Although weightlessness is known to affect living cells, the manner by which this occurs is unknown. Some reaction-diffusion processes have been theoretically predicted as being gravity-dependent. Microtubules, a major constituent of the cellular cytoskeleton, self-organize in vitro by way of reaction-diffusion processes. To investigate how self-organization depends on gravity, microtubules were assembled under low gravity conditions produced during space flight. Contrary to the samples formed on an in-flight 1 x g centrifuge, the samples prepared in microgravity showed almost no self-organization and were locally disordered.
Papaseit
C
C
Laboratoire Résonance Magnétique en Biologie Métabolique, Département de Biologie Moléculaire et Structurale, Direction des Sciences du Vivant, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique Grenoble, 17 rue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
Pochon
N
N
Tabony
J
J
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology; D002417:Cattle; D006112:Gravitation; D008870:Microtubules / Q000502:physiology*; D013026:Space Flight; D018474:Weightlessness Simulation