Lattice defects induced by microtubule-stabilizing agents exert a long-range effect on microtubule growth by promoting catastrophes

Microtubules are dynamic cytoskeletal polymers that spontaneously switch between phases of growth and shrinkage. The probability of transitioning from growth to shrinkage, termed catastrophe, increases with microtubule age, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we set out to test whether microtubule lattice defects formed during polymerization can affect growth at the plus end. To generate microtubules with lattice defects, we used microtubule-stabilizing agents that promote formation of polymers with different protofilament numbers. By employing different agents during nucleation of stable microtubule seeds and the subsequent polymerization phase, we could reproducibly induce switches in protofilament number and induce stable lattice defects. Such drug-induced defects led to frequent catastrophes, which were not observed when microtubules were grown in the same conditions but without a protofilament number mismatch. Microtubule severing at the site of the defect was sufficient to suppress catastrophes. We conclude that structural defects within the microtubule lattice can exert effects that can propagate over long distances and affect the dynamic state of the microtubule end.

Differential Geometry Approach to Continuous Model of Micro-Structural Defects in Finite Elasto-Plasticity

This paper concerns finite elasto-plasticity of crystalline materials with micro-structural defects. We revisit the basic concepts: plastic distortion and decomposition of the plastic connection. The body is endowed with a structure of differential manifold. The plastic distortion is an incompatible diffeomorphism. The metric induced by the plastic distortion on the intermediate configuration (considered to be a differential manifold) is a key point in the theory, in defining the defects related to point defects, or extra-matter. The so-called plastic connection is metric, with plastic metric tensor expressed in terms of the plastic distortion and its adjoint. We prove an appropriate decomposition of the plastic connection, without any supposition concerning the non-metricity of plastic connection. All types of the lattice defects, dislocations, disclinations, and point defects are described in terms of the densities related to the elements that characterize the decomposition theorem for plastic connection. As a novelty, the measure of the interplay of the possible lattice defects is introduced via the Cartan torsion tensor. To justify the given definitions, the proposed measures of defects are compared to their counterparts corresponding to a classical framework of continuum mechanics. Thus, their physical meanings can be emphasized at once.