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The subtle allostery of microtubule dynamics

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 21, pages 505–506 (2014)Cite this article

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New high-resolution structures of microtubules reveal that GTP and taxol each stimulate microtubule assembly by inducing straight protofilaments and promoting extension of the interdimer spacing. However, these effects take place through different mechanisms: GTP directly extends loops around the active site, whereas taxol works like a remote lever.

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Figure 1: Cryo-EM electron density map of a microtubule at around 5-Å resolution.
Figure 2: Schematic of microtubule dynamics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Linda A. Amos and Jan Löwe are at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK.,

    Linda A Amos & Jan Löwe

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  1. Linda A Amos
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  2. Jan Löwe
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Correspondence to Linda A Amos.

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Amos, L., Löwe, J. The subtle allostery of microtubule dynamics. Nat Struct Mol Biol 21, 505–506 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.2836

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