title: Making more microtubules by severing: a common theme of noncentrosomal microtubule arrays?
abstract: Two related enzymes, katanin and spastin, use the energy from ATP hydrolysis to sever microtubules. Two new studies (one in this issue; see McNally et al., p. 881) show that microtubule severing by katanin provides a means for increasing microtubule density in meiotic spindles. Interestingly, loss of spastin leads to a sparser microtubule array in axons and synaptic boutons. Together, these studies hint at a wider role for microtubule-severing enzymes in the formation and organization of noncentrosomal microtubule arrays by generating new seeds for microtubule growth.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
authors.forename: Antonina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roll-Mecak
authors.forename: Ronald D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Vale
mesh_terms: D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000201:enzymology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology; D000074201:Katanin; D008540:Meiosis / Q000502:physiology*; D008868:Microtubule Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism*; D008941:Spindle Apparatus / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D008868:Microtubule Proteins; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; D000074201:Katanin