Fig. 5
From: Inner lumen proteins stabilize doublet microtubules in cilia and flagella
Direct observation of B-tubule depolymerization by HS-AFM. a Schematic of high speed-AFM observation of the DMT. The tip of the cantilever (tip diameter ~1–2 nm) intermittently tapped the DMT surface on a mica stage. At time 0 s, the tip of the cantilever was thrust into the B-tubule and made a small hole (circled in red in b and c), immediately followed by normal HS-AFM observation. b, c Representative time-lapse images of wild type (b) and fap45fap52 (c) DMTs acquired by HS-AFM. In the wild type, enlargement of the hole usually stopped within a few seconds, whereas most of the B-tubules in the field were broken in fap45fap52 by 40 s. Scale bar = 100 nm. d The average length of the depolymerized B-tubules was plotted against time (wild type: n = 11, total length = 7.25 μm; fap45: n = 8, total length = 4.92 μm; fap52: n = 7, total length = 3.83 μm; fap45fap52: n = 10, total length = 4.95 μm)
