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Self-organizing microtubule asters
Featured Campus Seminars| Speaker: | Alex Mogilner, Department of Mathematics, Center for Genetics and Development |
| Location: | 1147 MSB |
| Start time: | Wed, Mar 22 2006, 4:10PM |
Both cell division, and cell migration, and intracellular transport depend on asters made of microtubules - dynamic cytoskeletal polymers. These asters have a remarkable ability to self-organize and find the center of the cell. I will tell about experiments with fragments of fish melanophore cells, in which pigment granules, coated with dynein molecular motors, move to minus ends of microtubules, and also alter microtubule dynamics. A positive feedback between granule transport and dyneins nucleating microtubules and stabilizing their minus ends leads to aster self-organization, while the spontaneous nucleation of microtubules causes aster centering. The main focus of the talk will be to illustrate how mathematical modeling assists experimental research in uncovering molecular mechanisms of self-organization in the cell.