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Tag: "microtubules" at biology news

Liposome finding implies electrical effect on cell development

... through optical and scanning electron microscopy, microtubules were observed to immediately form and extend from the phospholipid balloon, like a seed putting forth a stalk or root. Hayes believes that the phenomena may have significant implications for both cellular biology and for nanotechnology. "This findin...

Key mechanism in genetic inheritance during cell division identified

...hat the kinetochore proteins form rings around the microtubules and this ring formation promotes microtubule assem...chromosome to each daughter cell. After which, the microtubules again disassemble and reform back into skeletal systems for the two new daughter cells. It has been ...

The making and breaking of microtubules

...th and shrinkage is key to the diverse workings of microtubules in the cell. For the first time, researchers have...onal structures of tubulin (the protein from which microtubules are formed) during the assembly and disassembly of microtubules. Details of these peculiar structure...

Gene controls whether fear is a factor

...the brain needs to quickly disassemble and rebuild microtubules to form connections where they are needed," Shumya... in the amygdala, leading to the overproduction of microtubules in certain areas. In essence, the cells lose their flexibility." Indeed, the researchers found impa...

Marathon of nano-sprinters

... of the cell. Kinesin and dynein motors move along microtubules and myosins move along actin filaments. The step s...tips of our fingers and toes. Within such an axon, microtubules provide the tracks along which molecular motors transport their cargo, such as vesicles filled with ...

Formation of cellulose fibers tracked for the first time

...rescent version of tubulin, the protein from which microtubules are built. Using an imaging technique that can tra...raction was hard to pinpoint," Ehrhardt said. "The microtubules act as more than a general scaffold for organizing the cell wall; individual elements of the microtu...

Insects that produce males from unfertilized eggs reveal a surprising cellular feat

...rchestrate cell division, building an apparatus of microtubules called the mitotic spindle, which pulls apart the duplicated chromosomes so that each of the two daughter cells gets a complete set of chromosomes. The centrosome contains about a hundred different proteins, including the main protein for making micr...

Researchers now able to look deep into heart to view triggers of a heart's beat

...rchestrate cell division, building an apparatus of microtubules called the mitotic spindle, which pulls apart the duplicated chromosomes so that each of the two daughter cells gets a complete set of chromosomes. The centrosome contains about a hundred different proteins, including the main protein for making micr...

Discovery of agile molecular motors could aid in treating motor neuron diseases

...walking across it, but in the cell it's different: microtubules are packed together, with proteins studded along them, and cellular organelles and mitochondria are crammed in. The motor needs to maneuver around those 'obstructions.'" Goldman and Holzbaur suggest that the ability of the dynein-dynactin motor to mo...

The shape of life: research sheds light on how cells take shape

...omes and mitochondria around inside of cells. As microtubules multiply, they form patterns that can be seen by t...u and Yongxing Guo, Valles and Tang grew their own microtubules then studied them under three types of microscopes. After two years of work, they solved the mystery...

One-dimensional diffusion accelerates molecular motors

...Associated Kinesin) goes into action at the end of microtubules where it disassembles them. This is in contrast to...gulated, nor how the proteins reach the end of the microtubules to be regulated. The Max Planck researchers looked at the example of the protein MCAK, and how it l...

Biological motors sort molecules one by one on a chip

... possibility of inserting these kinesin-motors and microtubules in an electrically directed transport system that ... quantities on a surface with their 'feet' up; the microtubules (measuring approximately 1 to 15 micrometers in length) were then transported over the 'carpet' of ...

Two central mysteries in genome inheritance solved at UCSD

...s. "Right now, drugs used in chemotherapy affect microtubules in all the body's cells, resulting in adverse side... two proteins that bridges chromosomes and spindle microtubules and is required to detect attachment errors. This complex controls activation of a protein kinase ...

Molecular motors and brakes work together in cells

...nnsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that microtubules -- components responsible for shape, movement, and...rakes to organize into their correct structure. If microtubules are not formed properly such basic functions as cell division and transport can go wrong, which may ...

Widely used iron nanoparticles exhibit toxic effects on neuronal cells

...nanoparticles resulted in fewer and less organized microtubules and microfilaments, protein polymers involved in cell motility and cell shape. "It's worth noting that neither iron oxide nanoparticles alone, nor the coating material alone are overtly toxic, but combining the two to create water-soluble nanopart...

Gut research yields new anti-cancer approach

...d providing structural support and shape to cells, microtubules expand and shrink to generate the force needed for...bule dynamics. To play their role in tumor growth, microtubules must remain flexible. Taxol, for example, "freezes" tubulin subunits, making the cell skeleton rigid...

Surprising origin of cell's internal highways

...zing center (MTOC). From the MTOC, the growing microtubules launch out in all directions to the cell's periphe... distribution that causes cells to move. While microtubules in some specialized cells can originate from non-centrosomal structures, the centrosome has been con...

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