Molecular determinants of the Ska-Ndc80 interaction and their influence on microtubule tracking and force-coupling
Huis In 't Veld PJ, Volkov VA, Stender ID, Musacchio A, Dogterom M (2019). Elife
doi: 10.7554/eLife.49539.
The groups of Andrea Musacchio and Marileen Dogterom from the Delft University of Technology revealed that the interaction of the two microtubule binding complexes Ska and Ndc80 is phosphorylation-dependent and does not require microtubules, applied force, or several previously identified functional determinants including the Ndc80-loop and the Ndc80-tail.
Both, the Ndc80-tail and the Ndc80-bound Ska stabilize microtubule ends in a stalled conformation. Its duration predicts whether a microtubule is stabilized and rescued by the kinetochore.
Trimeric Ndc80D80 modules (magenta) on dynamic microtubules (cyan) in the presence of increasing concentrations of phosphorylated (top row) or dephophosphorylated (bottom row) Ska (yellow). Scale bars: vertical (60 s), horizontal (5 mm). Arrows indicate successful end-tracking events.