Answer to Question #59859 in Cell Biology for Sanjukta Ghosh

Question

Does depolymerisation take place at the minus end of microtubule?
Wikipedia says that -Dynamic instability refers to the coexistence of assembly and disassembly at the 'ends' of a microtubule,but Karp's Cell Biology, 7th edition says
-Dynamic instability is an inherent property of microtubule itself, more specifically, of the plus end of the microtubule.
I was of the opinion that the GTP bound to the minus end does not hydrolyse and so no depolymerisation take place at the minus end.
But again from The Cell: A Molecular Approach. 2nd edition I found that -treadmilling is a dynamic behavior in which tubulin molecules bound to GDP are continually lost from the minus end and replaced by the addition of tubulin molecules bound to GTP to the plus end of the same microtubule.
The concept I have developed so far is completely shattered by this treadmilling thing.