Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 25: Posters: Cytoskeleton

BP 25.12: Poster

Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 17:30–19:30, Poster C

Investigating Intermediate Filament (dis-)assembly Processes with Microfluidics — •Bernd Nöding, Viktor Schröder, Judith Breuer, Susanne Bauch, and Sarah Köster — Institute for X-Ray Physics, University of Göttingen, Germany

The cytoskeleton of eukaryotes consists of three different polymer systems: microtubules, actin filaments and intermediate filaments (IFs). While both microtubules and actin filaments are highly conserved, IFs occur in many different variations. A central property of all filament types is the (dis-)assembly mechanism. For vimentin IFs a principal assembly model exists. However, measurements of the assembly process with high time resolution, which would yield insights especially into the early assembly steps, are still largely missing. To approach this problem, we combine microfluidic and fluorescence techniques in two different ways. First, for studying the fast early assembly steps, we use Fluorescence Cross Correlation Spectroscopy (FCCS) in combination with microfluidic flow channels. With this setup, we will be able to characterize the assembly process with a time resolution in the millisecond range. Second, the later assembly stages and the disassembly of IFs can be observed with a different microfluidic design, which employs reaction chambers coupled via diffusion channels to a very well defined buffer reservoir. Thus the IF assembly and dissassembly process can be influenced by minute changes in the buffer system. Trough the combination of both these methods we aim to form a more complete picture of the assembly mechanism of IFs.