PMID: 11030624 , Related PDB id: 1FFX

Authors:

Gigant B, Curmi PA, Martin-Barbey C, Charbaut E, Lachkar S, Lebeau L, Siavoshian S, Sobel A, Knossow M

Title:

The 4 A X-ray structure of a tubulin:stathmin-like domain complex.

Journal:

Cell. 2000 Sep 15;102(6):809-16.

Abstract:

Phosphoproteins of the stathmin family interact with the alphabeta tubulin heterodimer (tubulin) and hence interfere with microtubule dynamics. The structure of the complex of GDP-tubulin with the stathmin-like domain of the neural protein RB3 reveals a head-to-tail assembly of two tubulins with a 91-residue RB3 alpha helix in which each copy of an internal duplicated sequence interacts with a different tubulin. As a result of the relative orientations adopted by tubulins and by their alpha and beta subunits, the tubulin:RB3 complex forms a curved structure. The RB3 helix thus most likely prevents incorporation of tubulin into microtubules by holding it in an assembly with a curvature very similar to that of the depolymerization products of microtubules.