Using an immunoelectron microscopic procedure, we directly observed the concurrent addition and loss of chicken brain tubulin subunits from the opposite ends of microtubules containing erythrocyte tubulin domains. The polarity of growth of the brain tubulin on the ends of erythrocyte microtubules was determined to be similar to growth off the ends of Chlamydomonas axonemes. The flux rate for br...

The cytoskeleton of the parasitic hemoflagellate Trypanosoma brucei brucei essentially consists of two microtubule-based structures: a subpellicular layer of singlet microtubules, which are in close contact with the cell membrane, and the flagellar axoneme. In addition, the cells contain a small pool of soluble tubulin. Two-dimensional gel electrophoretic analysis of the tubulins present in the...

bIII-tubulin (encoded by TUBB3) expression is associated with therapeutic resistance and aggressive disease in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but the basis for its pathogenic influence is not understood. Functional and differential proteomics revealed that bIII-tubulin regulates expression of proteins associated with malignant growth and metastases. In particular, the adhesionassociated tu...

This work is conducted to obtain mechanical properties of microtubule. For this aim, interaction energy in alpha-beta, beta-alpha, alpha-alpha, and beta-beta dimers was calculated using the molecular dynamic simulation. Force-distance diagrams for these dimers were obtained using the relation between potential energy and force. Afterwards, instead of each tubulin, one sphere with 55 KDa weight ...

Aspergillus subgenus Nidulantes accommodates species of industrial and medical importance. Thirty isolates morphologically assigned to subgenus Nidulantes were studied, 25 isolated from cereals in the north and northwestern provinces and the rest from other substrates in Iran. Based on morphological and molecular data (sequences of the ITS rDNA and β-tubulin), nine species were identified belon...

Tubulin tyrosine ligase (TTL) catalyzes the post-translational retyrosination of detyrosinated α-tubulin. Despite the indispensable role of TTL in cell and organism development, its molecular mechanism of action is poorly understood. By solving crystal structures of TTL in complex with tubulin, we here demonstrate that TTL binds to the α and β subunits of tubulin and recognizes the curved confo...

gamma-Tubulin is a universal component of microtubule organizing centers where it is believed to play an important role in the nucleation of microtubule polymerization. gamma-Tubulin also exists as part of a cytoplasmic complex whose size and complexity varies in different organisms. To investigate the composition of the cytoplasmic gamma-tubulin complex in mammalian cells, cell lines stably ex...

The vast majority of women with advanced ovarian cancer will ultimately relapse and develop a drug-resistant disease with an overall 5-year survival of <50%. Unfortunately, the mechanisms of drug resistance actually operating in patients are still unknown. To address this issue, in 41 patients affected by advanced ovarian cancer the three main mechanisms of paclitaxel resistance were investigat...

The vital role of tubulin dimer in cell division makes it an attractive drug target. Drugs that target tubulin showed significant clinical success in treating various cancers. However, the efficacy of these drugs is attenuated by the emergence of tubulin mutants that are unsusceptible to several classes of tubulin binding drugs. The molecular basis of drug resistance of the tubulin mutants is y...

In Tetrahymena, at least 17 distinct microtubule structures are assembled from a single primary sequence type of alpha- and beta-tubulin heterodimer, precluding distinctions among microtubular systems based on tubulin primary sequence isotypes. Tetrahymena tubulins also are modified by several types of posttranslational reactions including acetylation of alpha-tubulin at lysine 40, a modificati...