title: Microtubule-severing enzymes.
abstract: In 1993, an enzyme with an ATP-dependent microtubule-severing activity was purified from sea urchin eggs and named katanin, after the Japanese word for sword. Now we know that katanin, spastin, and fidgetin form a family of closely related microtubule-severing enzymes that is widely distributed in eukaryotes ranging from Tetrahymena and Chlamydomonas to humans. Here we review the diverse in vivo functions of these proteins and the recent significant advances in deciphering the biophysical mechanism of microtubule severing.
authors: Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, NINDS Porter Neuroscience Research Center, Building 35, Room 3B-203, 35 Convent Drive, MSC 3701, Bethesda, MD 20892-3701, United States. Antonina@mail.nih.gov
authors: Antonina
authors: A
authors: Roll-Mecak
authors: Francis J
authors: FJ
authors: McNally
mesh_terms: D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D000074201:Katanin; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; D000074201:Katanin