Substoichiometric Binding of Taxol Suppresses Microtubule Dynamics

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 1995 papers

Abstract

We have measured the effects of taxol (10 nM to 1 microM) on the growing and shortening dynamics at the ends of individual bovine brain microtubules in vitro and have correlated the effects both with the stoichiometry of taxol binding to tubulin in microtubules and with the changes in the microtubule polymer mass. The results indicate that taxol suppresses microtubule dynamic instability differently depending upon the stoichiometry of taxol binding to the microtubules. At the lowest effective concentrations ( or = 1 microM taxol and > or = 0.1 mol of taxol bound/mol of tubulin in microtubules), microtubule mass increases sharply and dynamics is almost completely suppressed. The data support the hypothesis that binding of a molecule of taxol to a tubulin subunit in microtubules induces a conformational change in that subunit that strongly reduces its ability to dissociate when the subunit becomes exposed at the microtubule end.

Related Papers

• → Do Altmetrics Work? Twitter and Ten Other Social Web Services(2013)898 cited
• → An Introduction to Altmetrics(2014)115 cited
• From attention to citation: What are altmetrics and how do they work?(2014)
• Susquehanna Chorale Spring Concert "Roots and Wings"(2017)
• → Icon «The Judgment of the Jews over Christ» of the First Half of the XIX Century(2020)