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CLIP-170 (red and blue) helps rescue shrinking microtubules (green).

Microtubules grow persistently from the centrosome to the cell margin, and then enter a state of dynamic instability, repeatedly growing and shrinking over short distances to probe the margin of the cell. This process is thought to be critical for rapid sensing of cell shape changes. On page 589, Komarova et al. demonstrate that the cytoplasmic linker proteins (CLIPs) are important and highly specific regulators of dynamic instability. The work helps explain why microtubules normally probe only the cell margin, rather than growing and shrinking over greater distances.The authors found that expression of a truncated form of the CLIP protein CLIP-170 acts in a dominant–negative fashion in cultured mammalian cells, knocking endogenous CLIPs off their normal perches on the plus ends of microtubules. Though this has no effect on the rate of microtubule growth or shortening, it significantly reduces the frequency with which shrinking microtubules are rescued, or switched from shortening to growth. When rescue is inhibited, the microtubules still grow persistently from the centrosome to the cell margin; but once shortening begins, the microtubules shrink persistently back toward the centrosome, probing the entire cytoplasm. The results suggest that CLIPs normally bind to tubulin dimers, which then bind to shortening microtubules to convert them to the growth phase.

Alan W. Dove

alanwdove{at}earthlink.net

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Cytoplasmic linker proteins promote microtubule rescue in vivo

Yulia A. Komarova, Anna S. Akhmanova, Shin-ichiro Kojima, Niels Galjart, and Gary G. Borisy
J. Cell Biol. 2002 159: 589-599. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This Article PDF (Full Text) PPT slides of all figures Alert me when this article is cited Services Email this article Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new content in the JCB Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Dove, A. W. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Dove, A. W. Related Collections Related Article Social Bookmarking                      What's this?