Micro Tubules In Cells

[Turtle]

___Some time ago I read an article (Scientific American I think) describing the new discovery of micor-tubules in cells. Some are coiled, others not, & several different kinds found. Among other qualities they describe is that of the micro-tubules serving as support structures for the cell membrane. This supplants the standard view of a homogenous protoplasm giving a cell its springy character.
___Further, they talked about these micro-tubules as conduits for chemicals entering & leaving the cell, as well as conduits between internal cell structures (mitochondria, etc.)
___The short of it is I have'nt seen this discussed since in all the cell chemistry talk going on in regard to DNA. I Googled micro-tubules before I started the thread, but the first pages refer to nano-technology, not biology. I intend to look more, but in the mean time, does anybody know of this discovery?

[beccareb]

The only information I know about micro-tubules is pretty much contained in what you said, but I did learn about them in second year biology at my high school. The purpose of microtubles is to support the cell membrane, but there was not much more information in my textbook. Granted, my textbook is ten years old.

[Turtle]

___Nice to know it's in a textbook somewhere; I didn't think the discovery was that old though.
___I did find an article today and here is the link:
http://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/groups/JYL/PDF/TAXOL.C&B
___I tried Scientific American site but you have to pay to learn there. Same with a biology site Google directed me to.
___Anyway, keep looking if you like. It's looking like it just isn't widely known yet & the domain of only a few specialties.

[TeleMad]

Originally Posted by Turtle

___Nice to know it's in a textbook somewhere; I didn't think the discovery was that old though. ... It's looking like it just isn't widely known yet & the domain of only a few specialties.

Microtubules have been known about for a long time. The oldest college textbook I have is from 1991, and it mentions microtubules. I don't know when they were first discoverted, but it had to be at least 14 years ago.

Besides the two functions already mentioned for microtubules (structural "girders" and rails used for intracellular transport), they also form the mitotic spindle and also are found in eukaryotic flagella and cilia.