title: Dynamic instability of microtubules: effect of catastrophe-suppressing drugs.
abstract: Microtubules are stiff filamentary proteins that constitute an important component of the cytoskeleton of cells. These are known to exhibit a dynamic instability. A steadily growing microtubule can suddenly start depolymerizing very rapidly; this phenomenon is known as a "catastrophe." However, often a shrinking microtubule is "rescued" and starts polymerizing again. Here we develop a model for the polymerization-depolymerization dynamics of microtubules in the presence of catastrophe-suppressing drugs. Solving the dynamical equations in the steady state, we derive exact analytical expressions for the length distributions of the microtubules tipped with drug-bound tubulin subunits as well as those of the microtubules, in the growing and shrinking phases, tipped with drug-free pure tubulin subunits. We also examine the stability of the steady-state solutions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208016, India.
authors.forename: Pankaj Kumar
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.forename: Ambarish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kunwar
authors.forename: Sutapa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mukherji
authors.forename: Debashish
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D019281:Dimerization; D008870:Microtubules / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000737:chemistry*; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D014404:Tubulin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D050257:Tubulin Modulators / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D014404:Tubulin; D050257:Tubulin Modulators