Who Needs Antibodies for Tubulin Modifications?

Tubulin is a heterodimeric complex composed of alpha and beta subunits. Just like histones, tubulin can undergo post-translational modification, to affect cellular function. Novus Biologicals offers a large database of modified Tubulin antibody products.

Tubulin is the key building block of microtubules, found in practically all eukaryotic cells. The microtubules are essential to structure and mobility, being involved in mitosis, meiosis, flagella movement, organelle mobility, intracellular transport and cytoskeletal function. The detection, isolation and study of microtubular proteins, through alpha and beta Tubulin antibody research, are essential to the understanding of microtubule function.

Both the alpha and the beta tubulins have multiple isotypes, any of which can also undergo a number of post-translational modifications. These modifications, which are highly conserved in evolution, include acetylation, phosphorylation, detyrosination, polyglutamylation, and polyglycylation. Although these occur at less than 10% of tubulin residues, they have a marked effect on cellular activity, regulating specific microtubule functions either independently, or in combination.

These tubulin modifications are analogous to the role modified histones play in chromatin regulation. For example, Tubulin acetylation at lysine residue 40 is thought to play a role in cell motility, cell shape remodelling and the terminal branching of neurons. Just as modified histone antibodies play a vital role in epigenetics research, tubulin antibodies are similarly useful in the study of microtubule function. Therefore the Tubulin [ac Lys40] antibody, which detects endogenous Tubulin only when acetylated at the Lys40 residue, is a useful tool for research on any of these cellular processes.

Novus Biologicals offers Tubulin reagents for your research needs including: