Damian Bezara, Dorota Bartusik-Aebisher and David Aebisher
Medical College of The University of Rzeszów, Poland

Part of the book: The Biochemical Guide to Proteins

Abstract

Tubulin is a universal and key protein for the functioning of cells, especially in eukaryotes. Tubulins belonging to the alpha, beta and gamma groups belong to the universal tubulins involved in key processes of the cell cycle. Non-universal tubulins are not present in all organisms, but are characteristic only of some of them, for example zeta-tubulin absent from Homo sapiens sapiens, where its role is played by delta-tubulin. Α, β, γ tubulins are modified by attaching chemical groups to the side chains of their amino acids and binding them to other proteins. These modifications change the properties of the macrostructure they create, thus influencing its lifespan or interactions with other proteins or non-protein components of the cytosol.

Keywords: tubulin, microtubules, proteins, glutamylation, tyrosination, microtubule organization site (MTOC)

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