Cortical microtubule nucleation can organise the cytoskeleton of Drosophila oocytes to define the anteroposterior axis
Name
Trong-2015-Cortical microtubule.pdf
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5.72 MB
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Author(s)
Khuc Trong, Philipp
Dunkel, Joern
Doerflinger, Helene
St. Johnston, Daniel
Goldstein, Raymond E.
Date Issued
September 2015
Journal
eLife
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
Citation
Khuc Trong, Philipp, Helene Doerflinger, Jorn Dunkel, Daniel St Johnston, and Raymond E Goldstein. “Cortical Microtubule Nucleation Can Organise the Cytoskeleton of Drosophila Oocytes to Define the Anteroposterior Axis.” eLife 4 (September 25, 2015).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Many cells contain non-centrosomal arrays of microtubules (MTs), but the assembly, organisation and function of these arrays are poorly understood. We present the first theoretical model for the non-centrosomal MT cytoskeleton in Drosophila oocytes, in which bicoid and oskar mRNAs become localised to establish the anterior-posterior body axis. Constrained by experimental measurements, the model shows that a simple gradient of cortical MT nucleation is sufficient to reproduce the observed MT distribution, cytoplasmic flow patterns and localisation of oskar and naive bicoid mRNAs. Our simulations exclude a major role for cytoplasmic flows in localisation and reveal an organisation of the MT cytoskeleton that is more ordered than previously thought. Furthermore, modulating cortical MT nucleation induces a bifurcation in cytoskeletal organisation that accounts for the phenotypes of polarity mutants. Thus, our three-dimensional model explains many features of the MT network and highlights the importance of differential cortical MT nucleation for axis formation.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mathematics
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Creative Commons Attribution
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06088
