Structural and functional domains of tubulin

✍ Scribed by Ricardo B. Maccioni; Luis Serrano; Jesus Avila

• Book ID: 102758285
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 667 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0265-9247
• DOI: 10.1002/bies.950020407

✦ Synopsis

The molecular aspects of the microtubule system is a research area that has developed very rapidly during the past decade. Research on the assembly mechanisms and chemistry of tubulin and the molecular biology of microtubules have advanced our understanding of microtubule formation and its regulation. The emerging view of tubulin is of a macromolecule containing spatially discrete sequences that constitute functionally different domains with respect to sewassociation, interactions with microtubule associated proteins (MAPS) and specijic ligands. Recent studiespoint to the role of the carboxyl-terminal moiety of tubulin subunits in regulating its assembly into microtubules. These investigations combined with further studies on the spatial relationships between tubulin domains should provide new insights into the detailed structural basis of microtubule assembly.