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The mitotic crosslinking protein PRC1 acts as a mechanical dashpot to resist microtubule sliding

Ignas Gaska, Mason Armstrong, April Alfieri, View ORCID ProfileScott Forth
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2019.12.12.874529
Ignas Gaska
Department of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA
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Mason Armstrong
Department of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA
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April Alfieri
Department of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA
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Scott Forth
Department of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA
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  • ORCID record for Scott Forth
  • For correspondence: forths@rpi.edu
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Abstract

Cell division in eukaryotes requires the regulated assembly of the spindle apparatus. The proper organization of microtubules within the spindle is driven by motor proteins that exert forces to push and slide filaments, while non-motor proteins can crosslink filaments into higher order motifs such as overlapping bundles. It has not been clear how active and passive forces are integrated to produce regulated mechanical outputs within spindles. Here we employ a combined optical tweezers and TIRF microscopy instrument to directly measure the resistive forces produced by the mitotic crosslinking protein PRC1. We observe that PRC1 generates frictional forces that resist microtubule sliding. These forces scale with microtubule sliding velocity and the number of PRC1 crosslinks, but do not depend on overlap length or PRC1 density within overlaps. Our results suggest that PRC1 ensembles act like a mechanical dashpot, producing significant resistance against fast motions, but minimal resistance against slow motions, allowing for the integration of diverse motor activities into a single mechanical outcome.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted December 13, 2019.
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The mitotic crosslinking protein PRC1 acts as a mechanical dashpot to resist microtubule sliding
Ignas Gaska, Mason Armstrong, April Alfieri, Scott Forth
bioRxiv 2019.12.12.874529; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2019.12.12.874529
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The mitotic crosslinking protein PRC1 acts as a mechanical dashpot to resist microtubule sliding
Ignas Gaska, Mason Armstrong, April Alfieri, Scott Forth
bioRxiv 2019.12.12.874529; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2019.12.12.874529

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