Fluorescent Labelling

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Does fluorescent labelling affect microtubule dynamics?

Microtubules were monitored using tubulin labeled with a fluorescent marker. It is important that the monitoring of microtubules, which involve the use of fluorescent labels and exposure to laser light, does not affect microtubule dynamics and skew results.

In order to investigate whether fluorescent labeling made a difference in the onset of catastrophe, we plotted ECDFs for the time until catastrope for both labeled and unlabeled tubulin. This interactive plot is shown below.

The ECDFs for labeled and unlabeled tubulin look very similar and overlap substantially, so we conclude that fluorescent labeling does not make a difference in the onset of catastrophe and thus it is a viable method for monitoring microtubule dynamics.