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Originally published as Biophys J. BioFAST on December 9, 2005.
doi:10.1529/biophysj.104.055483
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Biophysical Journal 90:1687-1696 (2006)
© 2006 The Biophysical Society

Flexural Rigidity of Individual Microtubules Measured by a Buckling Force with Optical Traps

Mahito Kikumoto, Masashi Kurachi, Valer Tosa and Hideo Tashiro

Photodynamics Research Center, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Miyagi, Japan

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Mahito Kikumoto at his present address, Protein Biophysics Group, KARC, NiCT, 588-2 Iwaoka, Nishi-ku, Kobe, Hyogo, 651-2492, Japan. Tel.: 81-78-969-2237; Fax: 81-78-969-2239; E-mail: kikumoto{at}nict.go.jp.

We used direct buckling force measurements with optical traps to determine the flexural rigidity of individual microtubules bound to polystyrene beads. To optimize the accuracy of the measurement, we used two optical traps and antibody-coated beads to manipulate each microtubule. We then applied a new analytical model assuming nonaxial buckling. Paclitaxel-stabilized microtubules were polymerized from purified tubulin, and the average microtubule rigidity was calculated as 2.0 x 10–24 Nm2 using this novel microtubule buckling system. This value was not dependent on microtubule length. We also measured the rigidity of paclitaxel-free microtubules, and obtained the value of 7.9 x 10–24 Nm2, which is nearly four times that measured for paclitaxel-stabilized microtubules.




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