Introduction

Regulation of microtubule dynamics is essential for many cell biological processes and is likely to be variable between different subcellular regions. We describe a computational approach to analyze microtubule dynamics by detecting growing microtubule plus ends. Our algorithm tracked all EB1-EGFP comets visible in an image time-lapse sequence allowing the detection of spatial patterns of microtubule dynamics. We introduce spatiotemporal clustering of EB1-EGFP growth tracks to infer microtubule behaviors during phases of pause and shortening. We validated the algorithm by comparing the results to data for manually tracked, homogeneously labeled microtubules and by analyzing the effects of well-characterized inhibitors of microtubule polymerization dynamics. We used our method to analyze spatial variations of intracellular microtubule dynamics in migrating epithelial cells.

Publications

  1. Analysis of microtubule dynamic instability using a plus-end growth marker.
    Cite this
    Matov A, Applegate K, Kumar P, Thoma C, Krek W, Danuser G, Wittmann T, 2010-09-01 - Nature methods

Credits

  1. Alexandre Matov
    Developer

    Department of Cell Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, United States of America

  2. Kathryn Applegate
    Developer

  3. Praveen Kumar
    Developer

  4. Claudio Thoma
    Developer

  5. Wilhelm Krek
    Developer

  6. Gaudenz Danuser
    Developer

  7. Torsten Wittmann
    Investigator

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Summary
AccessionBT000404
Tool TypeApplication
Category
PlatformsLinux/Unix
Technologies
User InterfaceTerminal Command Line
Download Count0
Submitted ByTorsten Wittmann