In vitro reconstitution of dynamic co-organization of microtubules and actin filaments in emulsion droplets

Kim J.A. Vendel, Celine Alkemade, Nemo Andrea, Gijsje H. Koenderink, Marileen Dogterom*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeChapterScientificpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In vitro (or cell-free) reconstitution is a powerful tool to study the physical basis of cytoskeletal organization in eukaryotic cells. Cytoskeletal reconstitution studies have mostly been done for individual cytoskeleton systems in unconfined 3D or quasi-2D geometries, which lack complexity relative to a cellular environment. To increase the level of complexity, we present a method to study co-organization of two cytoskeletal components, namely microtubules and actin filaments, confined in cell-sized water-in-oil emulsion droplets. We show that centrosome-nucleated dynamic microtubules can be made to interact with actin filaments through a tip-tracking complex consisting of microtubule end-binding proteins and an actin-microtubule cytolinker. In addition to the protocols themselves, we discuss the optimization steps required in order to build these more complex in vitro model systems of cytoskeletal interactions.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCytoskeleton Dynamics
Subtitle of host publicationMethods and Protocols
EditorsHelder Maiato
PublisherSpringer
Pages53-75
Number of pages23
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-0716-0219-55
ISBN (Print)978-1-0716-0218-8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Publication series

NameMethods in Molecular Biology
Volume2101
ISSN (Print)1064-3745
ISSN (Electronic)1940-6029

Keywords

  • Confinement
  • Cytolinkers
  • Cytoskeleton
  • In vitro reconstitution
  • Microtubule dynamic instability
  • Self-organization

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