title: Cep70 promotes microtubule assembly in vitro by increasing microtubule elongation.
abstract: Microtubules are dynamic cytoskeletal polymers present in all eukaryotic cells. In animal cells, they are organized by the centrosome, the major microtubule-organizing center. Many centrosomal proteins act coordinately to modulate microtubule assembly and organization. Our previous work has shown that Cep70, a novel centrosomal protein regulates microtubule assembly and organization in mammalian cells. However, the molecular details remain to be investigated. In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanism of how Cep70 regulates microtubule assembly using purified proteins. Our data showed that Cep70 increased the microtubule length without affecting the microtubule number in the purified system. These results demonstrate that Cep70 could directly regulate microtubule assembly by promoting microtubule elongation instead of microtubule nucleation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, China. xingjuanshi@mail.nankai.edu.cn
authors.forename: Xingjuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yunfan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Dengwen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D018385:Centrosome / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D022101:Microtubule-Organizing Center / Q000378:metabolism; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; C574386:CEP70 protein, human