Plenarvorträge - DPG-Tagungen

Arbeitskreis Biologische Physik Freitag
substrate is placed tens of micrometers apart from the top and bottom
boundaries of the measuring chambers, every influence due to surface effects
is negligible. This is an improvement with respect to the alternative
assays previously developed for measuring the mechanical properties of
microtubules [5, 6, 7, 8] or actin [9], where surface effects could not be
completely excluded. Our experimental results show a non-Gaussian distribution
of longitudinal fluctuations for microtubules of length 5 micron.
The measured half-width of the longitudinal and transverse fluctuations
is typically about 50 nm and 400 nm, respectively. The non-Gaussian
longitudinal distribution indicates that taxol-treated microtubules show
the typical behaviour of semiflexible polymers also on the typical length
scale of a cell.
[1] E. Frey, K. Kroy, J. Wilhelm, Adv. Struct. Biol. 5, 135-168 (1998)
[2] J. Wilhelm, E. Frey, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 2581-2584 (1996) [3] G. Lattanzi,
T. Munk, E. Frey, Phys. Rev. E, in press. [4] M. Speidel, A. Jonas,
E.-L. Florin, Opt. Lett. 28, 69-71 (2003) [5] H. Felgner1, R. Frank, M.
Schliwa, J. Cell Sci. 109, 509-516 (1996) [6] R. B. Dye, S. P. Fink, R. C.
Williams, J. Biol. Chem. 268, 6848-6850 (1993) [7] F. Gittes, B. Mickey,
J. Nettleton, J. Howard J. Cell Biol. 120, 923-934 (1993) [8] B. Mickey, J.
Howard, J. Cell Biol. 130, 909-917 (1995) [9] L. Le Goff, O. Hallatschek,
E. Frey, F. Amblard, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 258101 (2002)