title: Modeling of sensing potency of cytoskeletal systems decorated with metabolic enzymes.
abstract: The highly dynamic cytoskeleton interacts with enzymes and other proteins that are involved in metabolic or signaling pathways. These interactions can influence the structural and functional characteristics of the partners at the microscopic level of individual proteins and polymers. In this work the functional consequences of such interactions have been studied at the macroscopic level in order to evaluate the integrative and regulatory roles of the metabolic pathways associated with the microtubule cytoskeleton. Here we present mathematical models of the interactions between a hypothetical metabolic pathway and microtubule assembly, and explore for the first time the functional consequences of these interactions in distinct situations. The models include kinetic constants of the individual steps and testable, relevant parameters which allow the quantification of the coupled processes at the microscopic and macroscopic levels. For example our kinetic model for the self-assembly of microtubules reproduces the alteration of the time-dependent turbidity caused by pyruvate kinase binding. Our data reveal the power of a mechanistic description of a filamentous system to explain how cells sense the state of metabolic and other pathways.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary. Electronic address: olah.judit@ttk.mta.hu.
authors.forename: Judit
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oláh
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology Signals and Microenvironment, EA 4312, Faculty of Science, University of Rouen, 76821 Mont Saint Aignan, France. Electronic address: victor.norris@univ-rouen.fr.
authors.forename: Vic
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Norris
authors.affiliation: Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary. Electronic address: ovadi.judit@ttk.mta.hu.
authors.forename: Judit
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ovádi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008870:Microtubules / Q000201:enzymology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D011485:Protein Binding; D011770:Pyruvate Kinase / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D011770:Pyruvate Kinase
keywords: Mathematical model; Metabolism; Microtubule; Sensing