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  • Title: Dynamic instability of microtubules: effect of catastrophe-suppressing drugs.
    Author: Mishra PK, Kunwar A, Mukherji S, Chowdhury D.
    Journal: Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys; 2005 Nov; 72(5 Pt 1):051914. PubMed ID: 16383652.
    Abstract:
    Microtubules are stiff filamentary proteins that constitute an important component of the cytoskeleton of cells. These are known to exhibit a dynamic instability. A steadily growing microtubule can suddenly start depolymerizing very rapidly; this phenomenon is known as a "catastrophe." However, often a shrinking microtubule is "rescued" and starts polymerizing again. Here we develop a model for the polymerization-depolymerization dynamics of microtubules in the presence of catastrophe-suppressing drugs. Solving the dynamical equations in the steady state, we derive exact analytical expressions for the length distributions of the microtubules tipped with drug-bound tubulin subunits as well as those of the microtubules, in the growing and shrinking phases, tipped with drug-free pure tubulin subunits. We also examine the stability of the steady-state solutions.
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