TY - JOUR
T1 - A hydrodynamic instability drives protein droplet formation on microtubules to nucleate branches
AU - Setru, Sagar U.
AU - Gouveia, Bernardo
AU - Alfaro-Aco, Raymundo
AU - Shaevitz, Joshua W.
AU - Stone, Howard A.
AU - Petry, Sabine
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2021/4
Y1 - 2021/4
N2 - Liquid–liquid phase separation1,2 occurs not only in bulk liquid, but also on surfaces. In physiology, the nature and function of condensates on cellular structures remain unexplored. Here we study how the condensed protein TPX2 behaves on microtubules to initiate branching microtubule nucleation3–5, which is critical for spindle assembly in eukaryotic cells6–10. Using fluorescence, electron and atomic force microscopies and hydrodynamic theory, we show that TPX2 on a microtubule reorganizes according to the Rayleigh–Plateau instability, like dew droplets patterning a spider web11,12. After uniformly coating microtubules, TPX2 forms regularly spaced droplets, from which branches nucleate. Droplet spacing increases with greater TPX2 concentration. A stochastic model shows that droplets make branching nucleation more efficient by confining the space along the microtubule where multiple necessary factors colocalize to nucleate a branch.
AB - Liquid–liquid phase separation1,2 occurs not only in bulk liquid, but also on surfaces. In physiology, the nature and function of condensates on cellular structures remain unexplored. Here we study how the condensed protein TPX2 behaves on microtubules to initiate branching microtubule nucleation3–5, which is critical for spindle assembly in eukaryotic cells6–10. Using fluorescence, electron and atomic force microscopies and hydrodynamic theory, we show that TPX2 on a microtubule reorganizes according to the Rayleigh–Plateau instability, like dew droplets patterning a spider web11,12. After uniformly coating microtubules, TPX2 forms regularly spaced droplets, from which branches nucleate. Droplet spacing increases with greater TPX2 concentration. A stochastic model shows that droplets make branching nucleation more efficient by confining the space along the microtubule where multiple necessary factors colocalize to nucleate a branch.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41567-020-01141-8
DO - 10.1038/s41567-020-01141-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 35211183
AN - SCOPUS:85099924136
SN - 1745-2473
VL - 17
SP - 493
EP - 498
JO - Nature Physics
JF - Nature Physics
IS - 4
ER -