Gudimchuk Nikita B, Alexandrova Veronika V
Department of Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
Department of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
Biophys Rev. 2023 Oct 13;15(5):1095-1110. doi: 10.1007/s12551-023-01161-7. eCollection 2023 Oct.
Tubulins are essential proteins, which are conserved across all eukaryotic species. They polymerize to form microtubules, cytoskeletal components of paramount importance for cellular mechanics. The microtubules combine an extraordinarily high flexural rigidity and a non-equilibrium behavior, manifested in their intermittent assembly and disassembly. These chemically fueled dynamics allow microtubules to generate significant pushing and pulling forces at their ends to reposition intracellular organelles, remodel membranes, bear compressive forces, and transport chromosomes during cell division. In this article, we review classical and recent studies, which have allowed the quantification of microtubule-generated forces. The measurements, to which we owe most of the quantitative information about microtubule forces, were carried out in biochemically reconstituted systems We also discuss how mathematical and computational modeling has contributed to the interpretations of these results and shaped our understanding of the mechanisms of force production by tubulin polymerization and depolymerization.
微管蛋白是所有真核生物物种中都保守的必需蛋白质。它们聚合形成微管，微管是细胞力学中至关重要的细胞骨架成分。微管兼具极高的抗弯刚度和非平衡行为，表现为其间歇性的组装和拆卸。这些由化学能驱动的动力学特性使微管能够在其末端产生显著的推拉力，以重新定位细胞内的细胞器、重塑膜结构、承受压力并在细胞分裂期间运输染色体。在本文中，我们回顾了经典研究和近期研究，这些研究使得对微管产生的力进行量化成为可能。我们所掌握的关于微管力的大部分定量信息都源自于在生化重构系统中所进行的测量。我们还将讨论数学和计算建模如何有助于对这些结果的解释，并塑造了我们对微管蛋白聚合和解聚产生力的机制的理解。
