Model assumptions
| Core assumptions | Added assumptions | Assumptions vital for model’s robustness |
| KTs attach to MTs through dynamic, viscoelastic, nonmotor linkages (Ndc80 complexes) | Ndc80 complexes have different detachment kinetics for polymerizing/depolymerizing (GTP/GDP-tubulin) tips of MTs | An MT plus end cannot depolymerize past an Ndc80 complex attachment position |
| When bound to a MT, each extended/compressed Ndc80 complex exerts a force (e.g., poleward/anti-poleward) on its KT, and reciprocally to the MT to which it is bound | Ndc80 complexes behave as tension sensors (force-dependent kinetics) | Detachment of Ndc80 complex from polymerizing and depolymerizing MTs differs, both in the absence and the presence of tension force |
| Ndc80 complexes bind to and detach from MTs independently from one another | MT plus end catastrophe rate is length-dependent | Ndc80 complex binds “weakly” to polymerizing and, in a biphasic way, “strongly” to depolymerizing MTs under moderate force |
| Cohesin bonds between sister KTs behave as viscoelastic material | KT-bound MT plus-end catastrophe rate is growth rate–dependent (increases with decreasing growth rate) | |
| Both KT-bound and free MT plus ends undergo DI | KT-bound MT plus end rescue rate is regulated by tension forces exerted on it by the Ndc80 complexes (increased rescue under high tension) | |
| A polymerizing MT plus end stalls when it reaches the inner KT | ||
| MT minus ends slide polewards by sliding/flux motors and depolymerize at the rate the MTs are slid into the poles |
| Core assumptions | Added assumptions | Assumptions vital for model’s robustness |
| KTs attach to MTs through dynamic, viscoelastic, nonmotor linkages (Ndc80 complexes) | Ndc80 complexes have different detachment kinetics for polymerizing/depolymerizing (GTP/GDP-tubulin) tips of MTs | An MT plus end cannot depolymerize past an Ndc80 complex attachment position |
| When bound to a MT, each extended/compressed Ndc80 complex exerts a force (e.g., poleward/anti-poleward) on its KT, and reciprocally to the MT to which it is bound | Ndc80 complexes behave as tension sensors (force-dependent kinetics) | Detachment of Ndc80 complex from polymerizing and depolymerizing MTs differs, both in the absence and the presence of tension force |
| Ndc80 complexes bind to and detach from MTs independently from one another | MT plus end catastrophe rate is length-dependent | Ndc80 complex binds “weakly” to polymerizing and, in a biphasic way, “strongly” to depolymerizing MTs under moderate force |
| Cohesin bonds between sister KTs behave as viscoelastic material | KT-bound MT plus-end catastrophe rate is growth rate–dependent (increases with decreasing growth rate) | |
| Both KT-bound and free MT plus ends undergo DI | KT-bound MT plus end rescue rate is regulated by tension forces exerted on it by the Ndc80 complexes (increased rescue under high tension) | |
| A polymerizing MT plus end stalls when it reaches the inner KT | ||
| MT minus ends slide polewards by sliding/flux motors and depolymerize at the rate the MTs are slid into the poles |