On and Around Microtubules: an Overview

Overview

Journal Mol Biotechnol

Publisher Springer

Specialties Biotechnology
Molecular Biology

Date 2009 Jul 1

PMID 19565362

Citations 69

Authors

Richard H Wade

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Microtubules are hollow tubes some 25 nm in diameter participating in the eukaryotic cytoskeleton. They are built from alphabeta-tubulin heterodimers that associate to form protofilaments running lengthwise along the microtubule wall with the beta-tubulin subunit facing the microtubule plus end conferring a structural polarity. The alpha- and beta-tubulins are highly conserved. A third member of the tubulin family, gamma-tubulin, plays a role in microtubule nucleation and assembly. Other members of the tubulin family appear to be involved in microtubule nucleation. Microtubule assembly is accompanied by hydrolysis of GTP associated with beta-tubulin so that microtubules consist principally of 'GDP-tubulin' stabilized at the plus end by a short 'cap'. An important property of microtubules is dynamic instability characterized by growth randomly interrupted by pauses and shrinkage. Many proteins interact with microtubules within the cell and are involved in essential functions such as microtubule growth, stabilization, destabilization, and interactions with chromosomes during cell division. The motor proteins kinesin and dynein use microtubules as pathways for transport and are also involved in cell division. Crystallography and electron microscopy are providing a structural basis for understanding the interactions of microtubules with antimitotic drugs, with motor proteins and with plus end tracking proteins.

Citing Articles

Pyridinyl 4-(2-oxoalkylimidazolidin-1-yl)benzenesulfonates and their hydrochloride salts as novel water soluble antimitotic prodrugs bioactivated by cytochrome P450 1A1 in breast cancer cells.

Ouellette V, Bouzriba C, Chavez Alvarez A, Bruxelles Q, Hamel-Cote G, Fortin S RSC Med Chem. 2024; .

PMID: 39281801 PMC: 11393734. DOI: 10.1039/d4md00476k.

Thermosensory Spiking Activity of Proteinoid Microspheres Cross-Linked by Actin Filaments.

Mougkogiannis P, Adamatzky A Langmuir. 2024; 40(24):12649-12670.

PMID: 38837748 PMC: 11191697. DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c01107.

Historical Perspective and Current Trends in Anticancer Drug Development.

Gach-Janczak K, Drogosz-Stachowicz J, Janecka A, Wtorek K, Mirowski M Cancers (Basel). 2024; 16(10).

PMID: 38791957 PMC: 11120596. DOI: 10.3390/cancers16101878.

Neurofilaments in health and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

Kotaich F, Caillol D, Bomont P Front Cell Dev Biol. 2024; 11:1275155.

PMID: 38164457 PMC: 10758125. DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1275155.

Automatic extraction of actin networks in plants.

Hembrow J, Deeks M, Richards D PLoS Comput Biol. 2023; 19(8):e1011407.

PMID: 37647341 PMC: 10497154. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011407.

References

Severin F, Sorger P, Hyman A . Kinetochores distinguish GTP from GDP forms of the microtubule lattice. Nature. 1997; 388(6645):888-91. DOI: 10.1038/42270. View

Slep K, Vale R . Structural basis of microtubule plus end tracking by XMAP215, CLIP-170, and EB1. Mol Cell. 2007; 27(6):976-91. PMC: 2052927. DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2007.07.023. View

Honnappa S, Okhrimenko O, Jaussi R, Jawhari H, Jelesarov I, Winkler F . Key interaction modes of dynamic +TIP networks. Mol Cell. 2006; 23(5):663-71. DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2006.07.013. View

Moore J, Endow S . Kinesin proteins: a phylum of motors for microtubule-based motility. Bioessays. 1996; 18(3):207-19. DOI: 10.1002/bies.950180308. View

Chretien D, Fuller S, Karsenti E . Structure of growing microtubule ends: two-dimensional sheets close into tubes at variable rates. J Cell Biol. 1995; 129(5):1311-28. PMC: 2120473. DOI: 10.1083/jcb.129.5.1311. View

Hughes J, Meireles A, Fisher K, Garcia A, Antrobus P, Wainman A . A microtubule interactome: complexes with roles in cell cycle and mitosis. PLoS Biol. 2008; 6(4):e98. PMC: 2323305. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0060098. View

Kull F, Sablin E, Lau R, Fletterick R, Vale R . Crystal structure of the kinesin motor domain reveals a structural similarity to myosin. Nature. 1996; 380(6574):550-5. PMC: 2851642. DOI: 10.1038/380550a0. View

Heinz D, Schubert W, Hofle G . Much anticipated--the bioactive conformation of epothilone and its binding to tubulin. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2005; 44(9):1298-301. DOI: 10.1002/anie.200462241. View

Gardner M, Odde D, Bloom K . Kinesin-8 molecular motors: putting the brakes on chromosome oscillations. Trends Cell Biol. 2008; 18(7):307-10. PMC: 2866008. DOI: 10.1016/j.tcb.2008.05.003. View

10.

Dixit R, Barnett B, Lazarus J, Tokito M, Goldman Y, Holzbaur E . Microtubule plus-end tracking by CLIP-170 requires EB1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009; 106(2):492-7. PMC: 2626730. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0807614106. View

11.

Wade R, Kozielski F . Structural links to kinesin directionality and movement. Nat Struct Biol. 2000; 7(6):456-60. DOI: 10.1038/75850. View

12.

Nogales E, Wolf S, Downing K . Structure of the alpha beta tubulin dimer by electron crystallography. Nature. 1998; 391(6663):199-203. DOI: 10.1038/34465. View

13.

Nettles J, Li H, Cornett B, Krahn J, Snyder J, Downing K . The binding mode of epothilone A on alpha,beta-tubulin by electron crystallography. Science. 2004; 305(5685):866-9. DOI: 10.1126/science.1099190. View

14.

Al-Bassam J, Ozer R, Safer D, Halpain S, Milligan R . MAP2 and tau bind longitudinally along the outer ridges of microtubule protofilaments. J Cell Biol. 2002; 157(7):1187-96. PMC: 2173547. DOI: 10.1083/jcb.200201048. View

15.

Li H, DeRosier D, Nicholson W, Nogales E, Downing K . Microtubule structure at 8 A resolution. Structure. 2002; 10(10):1317-28. DOI: 10.1016/s0969-2126(02)00827-4. View

16.

Oliva M, Cordell S, Lowe J . Structural insights into FtsZ protofilament formation. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2004; 11(12):1243-50. DOI: 10.1038/nsmb855. View

17.

Wood K, Cornwell W, Jackson J . Past and future of the mitotic spindle as an oncology target. Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2001; 1(4):370-7. DOI: 10.1016/s1471-4892(01)00064-9. View

18.

McIntosh J, Grishchuk E, Morphew M, Efremov A, Zhudenkov K, Volkov V . Fibrils connect microtubule tips with kinetochores: a mechanism to couple tubulin dynamics to chromosome motion. Cell. 2008; 135(2):322-33. PMC: 2746696. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2008.08.038. View

19.

Howard J, Hyman A . Microtubule polymerases and depolymerases. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2006; 19(1):31-5. DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2006.12.009. View

20.

Cole D, Scholey J . Structural variations among the kinesins. Trends Cell Biol. 1995; 5(7):259-62. DOI: 10.1016/s0962-8924(00)89028-5. View