Tubulin Polyglutamylation

In our Journal Club

Recently, Lessard et al. (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2019) investigated how polyglutamylation of tubulin’s C-terminal tails (CTTs) regulates processivity of the neuron-specific kinesin motor KIF1A. KIF1A transports neuronal cargo anterogradely along axonal microtubules (MTs) over long distances (~3 microns).  99% pure rhodamine-labeled porcine brain tubulin from our partner Cytoskeleton (Cat.# TL590M-a and TL590M-b) was essential for the study as the motor substrate for TIRF microscopic analyses of how K-loop/CTT interactions regulate KIF1A’s processivity.

Read more in our latest Journal Club