SKM 2021 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 2: Cytoskeleton
BP 2.3: Vortrag
Montag, 27. September 2021, 12:15–12:30, H1
Motor proteins generate the curved shape of the mitotic spindle — •Arian Ivec1, Maja Novak1, Nenad Pavin1, and Iva Tolić2 — 1Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Bijenička cesta 32, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia — 2Division of Molecular Biology, Ruder Bošković Institute, Bijenička cesta 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
The mitotic spindle is a complex micro-machine made up of microtubules and associated proteins that are highly ordered in space and time to ensure its proper biological functioning. A functional spindle has a characteristic shape, which includes curved bundles of microtubules that are twisted around the pole-to-pole axis. An in-depth understanding of both how the linear and rotational forces define the overall shape of the mitotic spindle and how the twisted shapes arise as a result of interactions between microtubules and motor proteins is still unclear. To answer this, we introduce a model in which motor proteins generate forces at the poles and along the microtubule bundles, thereby regulating the shapes of microtubule bundles. The model provides predictions for forces in the spindle, including that the shape of the entire spindle is predominately determined by rotational forces, and that a difference in bending forces explains the disparity in the shapes of inner and outer bundles.