2007/08/31 by Katja M. Taute, Francesco Pampaloni, Erwin Frey +2
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #Chain (unit) #Classical mechanics #Condensed matter physics #Displacement (psychology) #Dynamics (music) #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Materials science #Mean squared displacement #Mechanics #Micro and Nano Robotics #Microtubule #Microtubule and mitosis dynamics #Molecular dynamics #Molecular physics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Relaxation (psychology) #Stiffness #Thermal fluctuations #Thermodynamics #Transverse plane #q-bio.BM
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.100.028102
published as Physical Review Letters (2008), 100:028102. · 4 pages, 4 figures. Updated content, added reference, corrected typos
arxiv created 2007/09/11 · openalex publication_date 2008/01/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Thermal shape fluctuations of grafted microtubules were studied using high resolution particle tracking of attached fluorescent beads. First mode relaxation times were extracted from the mean square displacement in the transverse coordinate. For microtubules shorter than approximately 10 microm, the relaxation times were found to follow an L2 dependence instead of L4 as expected from the standard wormlike chain model. This length dependence is shown to result from a complex length dependence of the bending stiffness which can be understood as a result of the molecular architecture of microtubules. For microtubules shorter than approximately 5 microm, high drag coefficients indicate contributions from internal friction to the fluctuation dynamics.