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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Flexural Rigidity Measurements Of Biopolymers Using Gliding Assays, Douglas S. Martin, Lu Yu, Brian L. Van Hoozen Jr.
Flexural Rigidity Measurements Of Biopolymers Using Gliding Assays, Douglas S. Martin, Lu Yu, Brian L. Van Hoozen Jr.
Chemistry and Physics Faculty Articles
Microtubules are cytoskeletal polymers which play a role in cell division, cell mechanics, and intracellular transport. Each of these functions requires microtubules that are stiff and straight enough to span a significant fraction of the cell diameter. As a result, the microtubule persistence length, a measure of stiffness, has been actively studied for the past two decades. Nonetheless, open questions remain: short microtubules are 10-50 times less stiff than long microtubules, and even long microtubules have measured persistence lengths which vary by an order of magnitude.
Here, we present a method to measure microtubule persistence length. The method is based …