Microtubules are electrically polar structures fulfilling prerequisites for generation of oscillatory electric field in the kHz to GHz region. Energy supply for excitation of elasto-electrical vibrations in microtubules may be provided from GTP-hydrolysis; motor protein-microtubule interactions; and energy efflux from mitochondria. We calculated electric field generated by axial longitudinal vibration modes of microtubules for random, and coherent excitation. In case of coherent excitation of vibrations, the electric field intensity is highest at the end of microtubule. The dielectrophoretic force exerted by electric field on the surrounding molecules will influence the kinetics of microtubule polymerization via change in the probability of the transport of charge and mass particles. The electric field generated by vibrations of electrically polar cellular structures is expected to play an important role in biological self-organization.

Institute of Photonics and Electronics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Czech Republic

Citace poskytuje Crossref.org

Tubulin response to intense nanosecond-scale electric field in molecular dynamics simulation

Radiofrequency and microwave interactions between biomolecular systems

Electro-acoustic behavior of the mitotic spindle: a semi-classical coarse-grained model

Cancer physics: diagnostics based on damped cellular elastoelectrical vibrations in microtubules