Microtubules self-repair in response to mechanical stress.
Microtubules self-repair in response to mechanical stress.
复制标题
微管在机械应力作用下进行自我修复
DOI：
10.1038/nmat4396
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发表时间：
2015-11
期刊：
影响因子：
41.2
通讯作者：
Théry M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Schaedel L;John K;Gaillard J;Nachury MV;Blanchoin L;Théry M
微管定义了轴突、纤毛和鞭毛的形状，并为细胞内运输提供了路径。微管可以被细胞内力高度弯曲，微管的结构和刚度被认为受到物理约束的影响。然而，微管是如何承受施加在它们身上的巨大力的，仍然不得而知。在这里，通过使用微流体装置，我们发现微管刚度随着每次弯曲和释放循环而逐渐减小。与材料疲劳的其他情况类似，机械应力集中在微管晶格中预先存在的缺陷上，会产生更大的损伤，从而进一步降低微管的刚度。引人注目的是，受损的微管能够将新的微管蛋白二聚体纳入其晶格并恢复其初始刚度。我们的研究结果表明，微管是具有自愈特性的延展性材料，它们的动力学并不只发生在它们的末端，它们的晶格塑性使微管能够适应机械应力。
Microtubules - which define the shape of axons, cilia and flagella, and provide tracks for intracellular transport - can be highly bent by intracellular forces, and microtubule structure and stiffness are thought to be affected by physical constraints. Yet how microtubules tolerate the vast forces exerted on them remains unknown. Here, by using a microfluidic device, we show that microtubule stiffness decreases incrementally with each cycle of bending and release. Similar to other cases of material fatigue, the concentration of mechanical stresses on pre-existing defects in the microtubule lattice is responsible for the generation of larger damages, which further decrease microtubule stiffness. Strikingly, damaged microtubules were able to incorporate new tubulin dimers into their lattice and recover their initial stiffness. Our findings demonstrate that microtubules are ductile materials with self-healing properties, that their dynamics does not exclusively occur at their ends, and that their lattice plasticity enables the microtubules' adaptation to mechanical stresses.