Navigation Links
The making and breaking of microtubules

Microtubules are active protein polymers critical to the structure and function of cells and the process of cell division. In a living cell their growing ends constantly elongate and retreat in a thrashing frenzy of polymerization and depolymerization, like the writhing snakes of Medusa's hair. Known prosaically as "dynamic instability," this ongoing rapid growth and shrinkage is key to the diverse workings of microtubules in the cell.

For the first time, researchers have revealed at molecular level the forms taken by transitional structures of tubulin (the protein from which microtubules are formed) during the assembly and disassembly of microtubules. Details of these peculiar structures show how the binding to tubulin of the nucleotide guanosine triphosphate, GTP, controls activity at the growing end of the microtubule. Eva Nogales and Hong-Wei Wang of the Life Sciences Division of the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report their findings in the 16 June 2005, issue of the journal Nature.

"Tubulin is a major target for anticancer drugs, which can prevent the transition from growing to shrinking states or vice versa," says Nogales, who is also a member of Berkeley Lab's Physical Biosciences Division, an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California at Berkeley, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. "We had previously produced high-resolution structures of stabilized tubulin structures, but nobody knew the structure of the transitional states. Our goal was to understand the process of microtubule assembly and disassembly."

"Our current work actually revealed the structures of different tubulin assemblies at the very ends of growing microtubules and depolymerizing microtubules," says Wang. "This allows a new understanding of the mechanism of microtubule dynamic instability, opening opportunities for new experiments testing the physiological roles of these micr
'"/>

Source:DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory


Page: 1 2 3 4 5

Related biology news :

1. Drug That Tags Decision-making Areas Of The Brain May Aid
2. Whats really making you sick? Plant pathologists offer the science behind Sick Building Syndrome
3. Understanding biases in epidemic models important when making public health predictions
4. The making of a fat cell
5. Micro RNAs play role in egg making
6. Creationism is not science ?making the case for Darwin at UCL
7. Honeybee decision-making ability rivals any department committee
8. Ten years later, Dolly is still making headlines
9. Microbes compete with animals for food by making it stink
10. New fMRI technology making brain tumor surgery safer
11. Are scientists making progress in being able to regenerate bone tissue?

Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
TAG: The making and breaking microtubules

(Date:12/2/2009)... The Manpei Suzuki Diabetes Foundation is pleased...Prize: Donald F. Steiner, MD, A. N. Pritzker Disti...f Medicine and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,...s inaugurated in 2008 to commemorate the 15th anni...honoring those who have enlightened researchers in...
(Date:12/2/2009)..., Scientists are reporting the first identificat...transformation that changes harmless marine bacter...r study appears in ACS, Environmental Science & T...n and colleagues note that bleaching already has d...fs, and scientists are searching for ways to slow ...
(Date:12/2/2009)..., , REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. and PA...Communication Intelligence Corporation ("CIC") (OT...ctronic signature solutions for business process a...nized leader** in biometric signature verification... International Electronic Document Management (EDM...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):CIC Teams with Docubase Systems to Deliver eSignature Enabled Document Management Solutions 2CIC Teams with Docubase Systems to Deliver eSignature Enabled Document Management Solutions 3CIC Teams with Docubase Systems to Deliver eSignature Enabled Document Management Solutions 4West to Host 2009 Second Quarter Conference Call 52897 1West to Host 2009 Second Quarter Conference Call 52897 2Hard to Treat Diseases 28HTDS 29 To Re Release European TV Segment In N America For Potential Treatment Of MS 52894 1Hard to Treat Diseases 28HTDS 29 To Re Release European TV Segment In N America For Potential Treatment Of MS 52894 2Hard to Treat Diseases 28HTDS 29 To Re Release European TV Segment In N America For Potential Treatment Of MS 52894 3Hard to Treat Diseases 28HTDS 29 To Re Release European TV Segment In N America For Potential Treatment Of MS 52894 4Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Provides Clinical Pipeline Update and Reports 2009 Second Quarter Financial Results 52892 1Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Provides Clinical Pipeline Update and Reports 2009 Second Quarter Financial Results 52892 2Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Provides Clinical Pipeline Update and Reports 2009 Second Quarter Financial Results 52892 3Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Provides Clinical Pipeline Update and Reports 2009 Second Quarter Financial Results 52892 4Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Provides Clinical Pipeline Update and Reports 2009 Second Quarter Financial Results 52892 5Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Provides Clinical Pipeline Update and Reports 2009 Second Quarter Financial Results 52892 6Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Provides Clinical Pipeline Update and Reports 2009 Second Quarter Financial Results 52892 7Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Provides Clinical Pipeline Update and Reports 2009 Second Quarter Financial Results 52892 8
... A team of scientists at the Genome Institute of ...n city-state,s Agency for Science, Technology and ...a at San Francisco have developed a pharmacologica... and epigenetic defects in the signaling of a prot...d to be abnormally activated in human malignance, ...
... Using the same concept behind commercial breath... has developed a new, easier method for clinical t...oratory of Gustatory Psychophysics in the Biology ...nology ( http://www.temple.edu/biology ), has crea...ps, but these edible strips contain one of the fiv...
... WESTCHESTER, Ill. Total fat intake and dinner f...attern in healthy adults, according to a research ...P 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated ... authored by Cibele Crispim, of the Federal Univer... volunteers between 20-45 years of age, whose food...
Other Biology News:Taking a cue from breath fresheners, researcher develops new method for taste testing 2Taking a cue from breath fresheners, researcher develops new method for taste testing 3Fat intake negatively influences the sleep pattern in healthy adults 2
(Date:12/2/2009)..., NEW YORK, Dec. 2 Near...licy makers, and funders today convened to explore...ng strategies at the inaugural Partnering for Cur...based center of the Milken Institute, convened Pa...laborations needed to turn a scientific discovery ...
(Date:12/2/2009)..., LELYSTAD, The Netherlands, December 2 /PRNew...d biotechnology company focusing on protein mimick...eutics today announced that it,has appointed Wim E..., Dr. Mol will be responsible for all of Pep...nt and strategic direction of the company. He brin...
(Date:12/2/2009)..., NANJING, China, Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -...Company") (NYSE: SCR ), a leading pharmaceutical...uring, and marketing of branded,generic and propri...at 105 of,its drugs have been included in China,s ...as issued by China,s Ministry of Human Resources a...
(Date:12/1/2009)... Dr. Kerry Solomon announced that he...unched his redesigned website at www.DrKerrySolom... Group. Dr. Solomon is a proven LASIK, lens impla...ssionally recognized for his substantial contribut...s a member of Trusted LASIK Surgeons, which screen...
Breaking Biology Technology:Medical Research Leaders Explore Novel Strategies to Expedite the Search for Cures 2Dutch Biotech Company Pepscan Appoints New CEO 2Simcere Announces 105 Drugs Included in China's National Drug Reimbursement List 2Simcere Announces 105 Drugs Included in China's National Drug Reimbursement List 3Charleston LASIK and Cataract Expert Dr. Kerry Solomon Opens New Practice and Launches DrKerrySolomon.com 2Charleston LASIK and Cataract Expert Dr. Kerry Solomon Opens New Practice and Launches DrKerrySolomon.com 3Charleston LASIK and Cataract Expert Dr. Kerry Solomon Opens New Practice and Launches DrKerrySolomon.com 4Charleston LASIK and Cataract Expert Dr. Kerry Solomon Opens New Practice and Launches DrKerrySolomon.com 5Charleston LASIK and Cataract Expert Dr. Kerry Solomon Opens New Practice and Launches DrKerrySolomon.com 6
..., AMSTERDAM, January 22 Avantium Technologies...stallization processes for the,pharmaceutical indu...rystalline. , The Crystalline has been designe...arn as much as possible about a drug candidate ear...oud to launch its next system in crystallization r...
..., , Troy, N.Y. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytec...ntrolling the nature of graphene, bringing academi...izing the mass production of graphene-based nanoel...carbon, was discovered in 2004 and is considered a...mental building blocks of nanoelectronics. , With...
..., DURHAM, N.C. -- After announcing last April a m...merous and well-aligned carbon cylinders only a fe...sts has now modified that process to create exclus...ed carbon nanotubes. , The achievement paves the ...uits at the ultra-small billionths of a meter scal...
Other Biology Technology:Avantium Launches the Crystalline, a New Parallel System for Crystallization Research 2Light-speed nanotech: Controlling the nature of graphene 2Semiconducting nanotubes produced in quantity at Duke 2Semiconducting nanotubes produced in quantity at Duke 3
...rray Dot Blot Kits overcome this limitation and of...er a wide range in low-density protein array (96- ...for performing reverse-phase protein arrays and fo...f low abundant antigens. Protein Detector kits are...
...croarray Slide features an ultra-thin nitrocellulo...53; Slide is the first protein microarray slide to...thin film with low,background fluorescence providi...53; Slide can be used for a variety of assays, suc...
...tabilizer is an aqueous solution that contains a p...zing chemicals in a MES buffer (4-Morpholine-ethan...ns a combination of 0.02% methylisothiazolone and ...Zyme AP Conjugate Stabilizer is formulated specifi...
...valuable tool for removing SDS detergent from prot...mples imparts a negative charge to the tightly bou...y during digestion, and suppresses ion signals and...alyses. We recommend that SDSaway be used with Pr...
Biology Products: