Presenter: Tanner
Authors: Michael Vershinin, Tanner Hoole
Faculty Advisor: Michael Vershinin
Institution: University of Utah
Microtubules consist of hollow, fibrous shafts of tubulin that function to support eukaryotic cell shape. Microtubules are the largest filaments of the cytoskeleton and they possess the highest filament rigidity. These filamentous intracellular structures are also responsible for functions in eukaryotic cells such as nucleus positioning, cell division, organization of intracellular structure, and intracellular transport. Research studying their mechanical properties is rarely focused on its temperature dependence despite the fact that even cells in multicellular thermoregulated organisms, such as mammals, tend to experience significant temperature variations. Prior work suggested that rigidity would be temperature independent in the biologically relevant temperature range. We will discuss our biomechanics measurements which suggest that rigidity of mammalian microtubules in fact varies with temperature. This unexpected result hints that tubulin-tubulin interactions within the filaments are more thermo-sensitive than previously speculated.