Structure of cortical microtubule arrays in plant cells

Structure of cortical microtubule arrays in plant cells

Serial sectioning was used to track the position and measure the lengths of cortical microtubules in glutaraldehyde-osmium tetroxide-fixed root tip cells. Microtubules lying against the longitudinal walls during interphase, those overlying developing xylem thickenings, and those in pre-prophase bands are oriented circumferentially but on average are only about one-eighth of the cell circumferen...

Sustained microtubule treadmilling in Arabidopsis cortical arrays.

Plant cells create highly structured microtubule arrays at the cell cortex without a central organizing center to anchor the microtubule ends. In vivo imaging of individual microtubules in Arabidopsis plants revealed that new microtubules are initiated at the cell cortex and exhibit dynamics at both ends. Polymerization-biased dynamic instability at one end and slow depolymerization at the othe...

High-Resolution Imaging of Cortical Microtubule Arrays

High-Resolution Imaging of Cortical Microtubule Arrays

Plant microtubule cytoskeleton complexity: microtubule arrays as fractals.

Biological systems are by nature complex and this complexity has been shown to be important in maintaining homeostasis. The plant microtubule cytoskeleton is a highly complex system, with contributing factors through interactions with microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs), expression of multiple tubulin isoforms, and post-translational modification of tubulin and MAPs. Some of this complexity ...