Energetic gradients emerge in developing motor-microtubule structures

Living matter produces a variety of beautiful spatiotemporal structures and patterns that are not enduringly present in their nonliving counterparts. These ordered, non-equilibrium steady states are often sustained through the consumption of energy. Here, we investigate the energetic cost of assembling an ordered aster from an initially disordered, uniform mixture of cytoskeletal microtubules and kinesin motors. Using a calibrated fluorescent ATP reporter, we measure reproducible radial ATP gradients on scales of tens of microns that establish within, and persist over, tens of minutes, alongside coupled spatial gradients in motor density. These appreciable gradients are predicted by a reaction-diffusion model that acknowledges the localization of ATP consumption to regions where both molecular motors and microtubules are sufficiently abundant to encourage consumption, as confirmed by finite element modeling. With our results, we compare the power per volume required by our cytoskeletal networks with the known power per volume expenditure in cells. Comparison of our measured results with estimates of the dissipative processes available to motor-microtubule mixtures leads to the hypothesis that maintaining spatial motor gradients dominates the energetic demand in this system. Our direct quantification of energetic fluxes across space unlocks future explorations of what steady states are accessible to cells, and how the cytoskeleton drives broad spatial organization. SignificanceHow much energy do organisms pay to form and maintain their organizing biochemical patterns? Existing measurements of cellular metabolism and energy expenditures largely resolve net or supply-side biochemical fluxes, without spatial information, impeding the study of this basic question. Here, we develop an experimental approach to directly measure the distributions of biochemical energy that respond to power expenditures of cytoskeletal motor-microtubule networks as they form aster structures, reminiscent of those found in the mitotic spindle. As these structures self-assemble, calibrated readouts in real molecular units register large, reproducible, and long-lived gradients of ATP. We interpret these measurements by developing theory to account for the functional destinies of energy expenditure. These advances clarify outstanding questions of energy in living matter.