Cited by 3,337Microtubule and mitosis dynamicsCellular Mechanics and InteractionsCancer Treatment and Pharmacology

Dynamic instability of microtubule growth

Mitchison, Tim, Kirschner, Marc·1984·Nature

Abstract

We report here that microtubules in vitro coexist in growing and shrinking populations which interconvert rather infrequently. This dynamic instability is a general property of microtubules and may be fundamental in explaining cellular microtubule organization.

Integrity signals

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Crossref · 10.1038/312237a0

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18 of 18 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • The concept of trapping rare developmental intermediates by genetic perturbation is based on analogy with trapping unstable transition states in chemical reactions using physico-chemical strategies.

    “The concept of “trapping” of rare developmental intermediates by genetic perturbation is based on the analogy with trapping of unstable transition states in chemical reactions using physico-chemical strategies33.”

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Authors
Mitchison, T., & Kirschner, M.
Affiliations
University of California, San Francisco (US)
Venue
Nature
Published
1984-11
Volume
312
Issue
5991
Pages
237-242
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W1965404941
Cited by
3,337
References
18
Citations by year
2026: 91 · 2025: 110 · 2024: 104 · 2023: 136 · 2022: 129 · 2021: 131 · 2020: 134 · 2019: 145 · 2018: 112 · 2017: 109 · 2016: 117 · 2015: 120 · 2014: 122 · 2013: 119 · 2012: 95
FWCI
23.90
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Microtubule and mitosis dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Cellular Mechanics and Interactions
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Treatment and Pharmacology
Keywords
microtubule dynamic instability, microtubule growth, in vitro microtubule assembly, microtubule organization, microtubule assembly
MeSH terms
Animals, Cell-Free System, Kinetics, Microtubules, Polymers, Protein Binding, Tubulin, Mice

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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

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