Abstract.
The essential microtubule property of dynamic instability is based on the binding, hydrolysis and exchange of GTP in each tubulin dimer. The recent high-resolution structures of tubulin and the microtubule have given us the first view at atomic level of properties such as nucleotide exchangeability, the linkage between polymerization and nucleotide hydrolysis, and the origin of microtubule destabilization, as well as the mode of action of antimitotic agents such as taxol.
Keywords: Key Words. Tubulin; microtubule; dynamic instability; nucleotide; structure; electron crystallography.
Footnotes
Received 15 February 1999; received after revision 19 April 1999; accepted 19 April 1999