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Microtubule and tubulin metrics [1]. Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules can be as long as 50 micrometres, as wide as 23 to 27 nm [2] and have an inner diameter between 11 and 15 nm. [3]
The microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) is a structure found in eukaryotic cells from which microtubules emerge. MTOCs have two main functions: the organization of eukaryotic flagella and cilia and the organization of the mitotic and meiotic spindle apparatus, which separate the chromosomes during cell division.
Micrograph showing condensed chromosomes in blue, kinetochores in pink, and microtubules in green during metaphase of mitosis. In cell biology, the spindle apparatus is the cytoskeletal structure of eukaryotic cells that forms during cell division to separate sister chromatids between daughter cells.
Role of the centrosome in cell cycle progression. Centrosomes are associated with the nuclear membrane during the prophase stage of the cell cycle. During mitosis, the nuclear membrane breaks down, and the centrosome-nucleated microtubules can interact with the chromosomes to build the mitotic spindle.
[47] [48] A number of polar microtubules find and interact with corresponding polar microtubules from the opposite centrosome to form the mitotic spindle. [49] Although the kinetochore structure and function are not fully understood, it is known that it contains some form of molecular motor. [50]
Additionally, the microtubules control the beating (movement) of the cilia and flagella. [31] Also, the dynein arms attached to the microtubules function as the molecular motors. The motion of the cilia and flagella is created by the microtubules sliding past one another, which requires ATP. [31] They play key roles in:
Cytoskeletal drugs are small molecules that interact with actin or tubulin.These drugs can act on the cytoskeletal components within a cell in three main ways. Some cytoskeletal drugs stabilize a component of the cytoskeleton, such as taxol, which stabilizes microtubules, or Phalloidin, which stabilizes actin filaments.
Whereas structural centromeric proteins (such as CENP-B), remain stably localized throughout mitosis (including during telophase), the spindle checkpoint components are assembled on the kinetochore in high concentrations in the absence of microtubules, and their concentrations decrease as the number of microtubules attached to the kinetochore ...