Building the microtubule cytoskeleton piece by piece

Ray Alfaro-Aco, Sabine Petry

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

40 Scopus citations

Abstract

The microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton gives cells their shape, organizes the cellular interior, and segregates chromosomes. These functions rely on the precise arrangement of MTs, which is achieved by the coordinated action of MT-associated proteins (MAPs). We highlight the first and most important examples of how different MAP activities are combined in vitro to create an ensemble function that exceeds the simple addition of their individual activities, and how the Xenopus laevis egg extract system has been utilized as a powerful intermediate between cellular and purified systems to uncover the design principles of selforganized MT networks in the cell.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)17154-17162
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Biological Chemistry
Volume290
Issue number28
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 10 2015

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Molecular Biology
  • Biochemistry
  • Cell Biology

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