News tagged with microtubule

Study Rules Out Fröhlich Condensates in Quantum Consciousness Model

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists don't fully understand how consciousness works, and, so far, no classical theories can explain consciousness in the brain. In light of this lack of understanding, some researchers ...

Physics / General Physics

created Mar 10, 2009 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (36) | comments 17 feature

Life's smallest motor, cargo carrier of the cells, moves like a seesaw

(PhysOrg.com) -- Life's smallest motor, a protein that shuttles cargo within cells and helps cells divide, does so by rocking up and down like a seesaw, according to research conducted by scientists at the ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Feb 18, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Proteins found to spontaneously form whorls and lattices

(PhysOrg.com) -- Building on the work of a previous team that found filaments made from actin, when combined with so called motor proteins, moved themselves into distinct patterns, a new team in Japan has ...

Physics / General Physics

created Mar 28, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 2 | with audio podcast report

Team applies new techniques and sees surprises in cell division

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have obtained the first high-resolution, three-dimensional images of a cell with a nucleus undergoing cell division. The observations, made using a powerful ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 08, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Scientists find a brake that acts when cellular motors run too far

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of scientists has shown how microtubules are interconnected into large networks. Like the poles of a tent, microtubules give shape to cells. By sliding microtubules along ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 05, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Study identifies critical 'traffic engineer' of the nervous system

A new University of Georgia study published in the journal Nature has identified a critical enzyme that keeps traffic flowing in the right direction in the nervous system, and the finding could eventually lead t ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Sep 08, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Slicing mitotic spindle with lasers, nanosurgeons unravel old pole-to-pole theory

The mitotic spindle, an apparatus that segregates chromosomes during cell division, may be more complex than the standard textbook picture suggests, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists discover new direction in Alzheimer's research

In what they are calling a new direction in the study of Alzheimer's disease, UC Santa Barbara scientists have made an important finding about what happens to brain cells that are destroyed in Alzheimer's ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jun 06, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Single molecule tracking helps reveal mechanism of chromosome separation in dividing cells

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Washington (UW) researchers are helping to write the operating manual for the nano-scale machine that separates chromosomes before cell division. The apparatus is called a spindle ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 06, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Motor proteins may be vehicles for drug delivery

Specialized motor proteins that transport cargo within cells could be turned into nanoscale machines for drug delivery, according to bioengineers. Chemical alteration of the proteins' function could also help inhibit the ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Mar 20, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Getting a tighter grip on cell division

(PhysOrg.com) -- The dance of cell division is carefully choreographed and has little room for error. Paired genetic information is lined up in the middle of the cell in the form of chromosomes. The chromosomes ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 25, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Bionanomachines: Proteins as resistance fighters

(PhysOrg.com) -- Friction limits the speed and efficiency of macroscopic engines. Is this also true for nanomachines? A Dresden research team used laser tweezers to measure the friction between a single motor ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Aug 14, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

How microtubules let go of their attachments during cell division

Whitehead Institute researchers have determined a key part of how cells regulate the chromosome/microtubule interface, which is central to proper chromosomal distribution during cell division.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 13, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists watch cell-shape process for first time

Researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science, with colleagues at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, observed for the first time a fundamental process of cellular organization in living plant cells: the birth ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 10, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Skeleton key for cancer metastasis

Cancer cells need all three of their cytoskeletons—actin, microtubules, and intermediate filaments—to metastasize, according to a study published online on April 26 in the Journal of Cell Biology.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 26, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Microtubule

Microtubules are a component of the cytoskeleton. These rope-like polymers of tubulin can grow as long as 25 micrometers and are highly dynamic. The outer diameter of microtubule is about 25 nm. Microtubules are important for maintaining cell structure, providing platforms for intracellular transport, forming the spindle during mitosis, as well as other cellular processes. There are many proteins that bind to the microtubule, including motor proteins such as kinesin and dynein, severing proteins like katanin, and other proteins important for regulating microtubule dynamics.

For more information about Microtubule, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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