Fig. 7: Raggedness of MT tips grown in different conditions.

a Schematic explaining the MT end raggedness parameter. Dashed lines mark the origins of PF curls. Double-ended arrows show distance from a fixed arbitrary point to the start of each PF curl. Raggedness is defined as the standard deviation of positions of PF curve starts. b Series of snapshots, demonstrating growing GTP-MT end shapes in simulations with high and low lateral activation energies for lateral bonding potentials. More ragged ends tend to form when the activation barrier is high. c Dependence of model GTP-MT end raggedness on tubulin concentration. Data points represent mean ± s.d. from thee repeats of each simulation; source data are provided as a Source Data file. d Experimental data on MT raggedness under various experimental conditions. Black points show dependence of MT end raggedness on tubulin concentration. Black line is a linear fit to these data. Zero tubulin concentration (cross) corresponds to isothermal dilution experiments. Open circle shows data for MT growth in the presence of GMPCPP, blue triangle is growth in α1B/βI+βIVb tubulin. All data points show mean ± s.e.m. based on measurements for 15–97 MTs; source data are provided as a Source Data file. All data points show mean ± s.e.m. e Tomographic slices and models of representative MTs elongating from axonemal doublet MTs in the presence of 20 μM free α1B/βI+βIVb tubulin.