Photoswitchable paclitaxel-based microtubule stabilisers allow optical control over the microtubule cytoskeleton

Abstract

Light-based modulation of the microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton is an attractive goal for spatiotemporally-resolved MT studies. Here the authors develop a first generation photoswitchable small molecule MT stabiliser based on paclitaxel, allowing optical control over cellular MT dynamics.