Microtubules self-repair in response to mechanical stress.
Microtubules--which define the shape of axons, cilia and flagella, and provide tracks for intracellular transport--can be highly bent by intracellular forces, and microtubule structure and stiffness are thought to be affected by physical constraints. Yet how microtubules tolerate the vast forces exerted on them remains unknown. Here, by using a microfluidic device, we show that microtubule stiffness decreases incrementally with each cycle of bending and release. Similar to other cases of material fatigue, the concentration of mechanical stresses on pre-existing defects in the microtubule lattice is responsible for the generation of more extensive damage, which further decreases microtubule stiffness. Strikingly, damaged microtubules were able to incorporate new tubulin dimers into their lattice and recover their initial stiffness. Our findings demonstrate that microtubules are ductile materials with self-healing properties, that their dynamics does not exclusively occur at their ends, and that their lattice plasticity enables the microtubules' adaptation to mechanical stresses.
Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire et Végétale, Institut de Recherche en Technologie et Science pour le Vivant, UMR5168, CEA/INRA/CNRS/UGA, 38054 Grenoble, France.
Laura
L
Schaedel
Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique, CNRS/UGA Grenoble, 140 Rue de la Physique BP 87 38402 Saint-Martin-d'Hères, France.
Karin
K
John
Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire et Végétale, Institut de Recherche en Technologie et Science pour le Vivant, UMR5168, CEA/INRA/CNRS/UGA, 38054 Grenoble, France.
Jérémie
J
Gaillard
Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, California 94305, USA.
Maxence V
MV
Nachury
Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire et Végétale, Institut de Recherche en Technologie et Science pour le Vivant, UMR5168, CEA/INRA/CNRS/UGA, 38054 Grenoble, France.
Laurent
L
Blanchoin
Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire et Végétale, Institut de Recherche en Technologie et Science pour le Vivant, UMR5168, CEA/INRA/CNRS/UGA, 38054 Grenoble, France.|Unité de Thérapie Cellulaire, Hôpital Saint Louis, Institut Universitaire d'Hematologie, UMRS1160, INSERM/AP-HP/Université Paris Diderot, 75010 Paris, France.
Manuel
M
Théry
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D056656:Lab-On-A-Chip Devices; D008870:Microtubules / Q000235:genetics* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D014404:Tubulin / Q000737:chemistry*
D014404:Tubulin