Microtubule nucleation by γ-tubulin complexes

Prof. Kollman’s postdoctoral work focused on the structures of γ-tubulin complexes.  This work clarified the mechanism of microtubule nucleation, in which γ-tubulin is presented in a ring to serve as a template for microtubule growth via longitudinal contact with αβ-tubulin.  The structure of oligomers of the γ-tubulin small complex (γTuSC) suggested that nucleation activity is regulated by a conformational change in a specific γTuSC component.  Continuing work is focused on elucidating the details of this conformational change, and determining the structure of γTuSC interacting with microtubules.

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