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Microtubules self-repair in response to mechanical stress

Nature Materials volume 14, pages 1156–1163 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Microtubules—which define the shape of axons, cilia and flagella, and provide tracks for intracellular transport—can be highly bent by intracellular forces, and microtubule structure and stiffness are thought to be affected by physical constraints. Yet how microtubules tolerate the vast forces exerted on them remains unknown. Here, by using a microfluidic device, we show that microtubule stiffness decreases incrementally with each cycle of bending and release. Similar to other cases of material fatigue, the concentration of mechanical stresses on pre-existing defects in the microtubule lattice is responsible for the generation of more extensive damage, which further decreases microtubule stiffness. Strikingly, damaged microtubules were able to incorporate new tubulin dimers into their lattice and recover their initial stiffness. Our findings demonstrate that microtubules are ductile materials with self-healing properties, that their dynamics does not exclusively occur at their ends, and that their lattice plasticity enables the microtubules’ adaptation to mechanical stresses.

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Figure 1: Microtubule bending device.
Figure 2: Microtubule softening on external constraint.
Figure 3: Microtubule mechanical recovery.
Figure 4: Microtubule self-healing.
Figure 5: Numerical simulations of microtubule deformation in response to local or global stiffness reduction.
Figure 6: Model of microtubule softening and self-repairing under mechanical stress.

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Acknowledgements

We thank D. Chrétien for interesting discussions about microtubule defects and M. Dogterom and T. Salmon for bringing to our attention the seminal work of R. Williams. This work has been supported by an HFSP funding to M.T. and M.V.N. (RGY0088/2012) and ERC funding to M.T. (Starting Grant 310472).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire et Végétale, Institut de Recherche en Technologie et Science pour le Vivant, UMR5168, CEA/INRA/CNRS/UGA, 38054 Grenoble, France

    Laura Schaedel, Jérémie Gaillard, Laurent Blanchoin & Manuel Théry

  2. Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique, CNRS/UGA Grenoble, 140 Rue de la Physique BP 87 38402 Saint-Martin-d’Hères, France,

    Karin John

  3. Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, California 94305, USA

    Maxence V. Nachury

  4. Unité de Thérapie Cellulaire, Hôpital Saint Louis, Institut Universitaire d’Hematologie, UMRS1160, INSERM/AP-HP/Université Paris Diderot, 75010 Paris, France

    Manuel Théry

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  1. Laura Schaedel
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Contributions

L.S. performed all experiments with the help of J.G. K.J. and L.S. conceived and performed microtubule stiffness measurements. K.J. performed numerical simulations. L.S., L.B. and M.T. designed the experiments. L.S., K.J., L.B. and M.T. analysed data. M.V.N., L.B. and M.T. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Laurent Blanchoin or Manuel Théry.

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Schaedel, L., John, K., Gaillard, J. et al. Microtubules self-repair in response to mechanical stress. Nature Mater 14, 1156–1163 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4396

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