Figure 10
Computational model of dynamic microtubule instability reproduces the periodicities seen experimentally. (a) The model consists of two microtubules (red and blue lines) competing for a limited supply of tubulin monomers (purple dots) within the growth cone. (b) Lengths of both microtubules as a function of time for a typical simulation. (c,d,e) Autocorrelation functions for three different simulations with identical parameters but different random seeds, illustrating strong periodicity but also different frequencies at which these can occur in the model. (f,g) Distribution of oscillation scores (f) and frequencies (g) across 400 simulated growth cones. MT, microtubule.