This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: biophysj.104.057083v1 88/6/4008    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Zaliapin, I. Articles by Rodionov, V. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Zaliapin, I. Articles by Rodionov, V.

Multiscale Trend Analysis of Microtubule Transport in Melanophores

Ilya Zaliapin ^*, Irina Semenova , Anna Kashina  and Vladimir Rodionov 

^* Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California; University of Connecticut Health Center, Department of Cell Biology and Center for Biomedical Imaging Technology, Farmington, Connecticut; and University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Vladimir Rodionov, University of Connecticut Health Center, Dept. of Cell Biology and Center for Biomedical Imaging Technology, 263 Farmington Ave., Farmington, CT 06032-1507. Tel.: 860-679-1850; Fax: 860-679-1039; E-mail: rodionov{at}nso.uchc.edu.

Microtubule-based transport is critical for trafficking of organelles, organization of endomembranes, and mitosis. The driving force for microtubule-based transport is provided by microtubule motors, which move organelles specifically to the plus or minus ends of the microtubules. Motor proteins of opposite polarities are bound to the surface of the same cargo organelle. Transport of organelles along microtubules is discontinuous and involves transitions between movements to plus or minus ends or pauses. Parameters of the movement, such as velocity and length of runs, provide important information about the activity of microtubule motors, but measurement of these parameters is difficult and requires a sophisticated decomposition of the organelle movement trajectories into directional runs and pauses. The existing algorithms are based on establishing threshold values for the length and duration of runs and thus do not allow to distinguish between slow runs and pauses, making the analysis of the organelle transport incomplete. Here we describe a novel algorithm based on multiscale trend analysis for the decomposition of organelle trajectories into plus- or minus-end runs, and pauses. This algorithm is self-adapted to the characteristic durations and velocities of runs, and allows reliable separation of pauses from runs. We apply the proposed algorithm to compare regulation of microtubule transport in fish and Xenopus melanophores and show that the general mechanisms of regulation are similar in the two pigment cell types.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. Y. Petrov, R. Mallik, G. T. Shubeita, M. Vershinin, S. P. Gross, and C. C. Yu Studying Molecular Motor-Based Cargo Transport: What Is Real and What Is Noise? Biophys. J., April 15, 2007; 92(8): 2953 - 2963. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Huet, E. Karatekin, V. S. Tran, I. Fanget, S. Cribier, and J.-P. Henry Analysis of Transient Behavior in Complex Trajectories: Application to Secretory Vesicle Dynamics Biophys. J., November 1, 2006; 91(9): 3542 - 3559. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A.-T. Dinh, C. Pangarkar, T. Theofanous, and S. Mitragotri Theory of Spatial Patterns of Intracellular Organelles Biophys. J., May 15, 2006; 90(10): L67 - L69. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]