Wang Hong-Wei, Long Sydney, Finley K Rose, Nogales Eva
Life Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Berkeley, California, USA.
Cell Cycle. 2005 Sep;4(9):1157-60. doi: 10.4161/cc.4.9.2042. Epub 2005 Sep 20.
Microtubule assembly and disassembly is a complex structural process that does not proceed by simple addition and subtraction of individual subunits to and from a helical polymer, as would be the case for actin and other helical assemblies. The dynamic process of microtubule growth and shrinking involves short-lasting polymer forms that differ substantially from the microtubule itself and constitute crucial assembly and disassembly intermediates. Structural characterization thus depends on the stabilization of these brief intermediates and their preservation as polymeric assemblies. This paper gives experimental details on the polymerization of GMPCPP-tubulin into low-temperature, stable polymers that we propose to correspond to the early stages in microtubule assembly, and includes new data on the effect of colchicine on GMPCPP-tubulin polymerization. Finally, we add our thoughts on the possible biological meaning of tubulin polymerization versatility.
微管的组装与拆卸是一个复杂的结构过程，它不像肌动蛋白和其他螺旋状组装体那样，通过单个亚基简单地添加到螺旋聚合物上或从螺旋聚合物上减去来进行。微管生长和收缩的动态过程涉及到短暂存在的聚合物形式，这些聚合物形式与微管本身有很大不同，并且构成了关键的组装和拆卸中间体。因此，结构表征取决于这些短暂中间体的稳定以及它们作为聚合物组装体的保存。本文给出了将GMPCPP-微管蛋白聚合成低温稳定聚合物的实验细节，我们认为这些聚合物对应于微管组装的早期阶段，并且包含了秋水仙碱对GMPCPP-微管蛋白聚合作用的新数据。最后，我们阐述了关于微管蛋白聚合多样性可能的生物学意义的观点。
