PubMed · 16860721
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Kendra S Burbank, Timothy J Mitchison. 2006-07-25. Microtubule dynamic instability.. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2006.06.044
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Microtubules are cytoskeletal filaments important for various cellular processes such as intracellular transport, cell division, polarization and migration. Microtubule organization goes hand in hand with cellular function. Motile cells, such as immune cells or fibroblasts, contain microtubule asters attached to the centrosome and the Golgi complex, whereas in many other differentiated cells, microtubules form linear arrays or meshworks anchored at membrane-bound organelles or the cell cortex. Over the past decade, new developments in cell culture, genome editing and microscopy have greatly advanced our understanding of complex microtubule arrays. In this Cell Science at a Glance article and the accompanying poster, we review the diversity of microtubule arrays in interphase animal cells. We describe microtubule network geometries present in various differentiated cells, explore the variety in microtubule-organizing centers responsible for these geometries, and discuss examples of microtubule reorganization in response to functional changes and their interplay with cell motility and tissue development.
Regulation of microtubule nucleation sites is an essential step in microtubule organization. Cortical microtubule arrays in green plant cells at inter-phase are organized in a distinct manner--the array is formed in the absence of previously recognized organelles for microtubule nucleation, for example the centrosome and spindle pole body. Microtubules in the cortical array were recently found to be nucleated as branches on pre-existing microtubules via recruitment of cytosolic gamma-tubulin. In this review we briefly summarize the mechanism of microtubule-dependent microtubule nucleation and discuss a possible role of this mechanism in other cellular processes and their evolution.
In plants, directional cell expansion greatly contributes to the final shape of mature cells, and thus to organ architecture. A particularly interesting mode of cell expansion is helical growth in which the growth axis is continuously tilted either to the right or to the left as the cell grows. Fixed handedness of helical growth raises fundamental questions on the possible origin of left-right asymmetry. Twisting mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana offer unique opportunities to study the cellular basis of helical growth. Most of the twisting mutants with fixed handedness have been shown to have defects in microtubule functions, whereas mutants that twist in non-fixed directions appear to be defective in auxin response or transport. Good correlations have been found between the tilted growth direction and alignment of cortical microtubule arrays in twisting mutants with compromised microtubule functions. The present challenge is to understand how particular array patterns are organized during progression of the interphase in rapidly expanding cells. Molecular and cell biological studies on twisting mutants will lead to better understanding on how wild-type plant cells utilize the microtubule cytoskeleton to initiate and rigorously maintain straight growth.