Axonal growth is sensitive to the levels of katanin, a protein that severs microtubules.

ABSTRACT: Katanin is a heterodimeric enzyme that severs microtubules from the centrosome so that they can move into the axon. Katanin is broadly distributed in the neuron, and therefore presumably also severs microtubules elsewhere. Such severing would generate multiple short microtubules from longer microtubules, resulting in more microtubule ends available for assembly and interaction with other structures. In addition, shorter microtubules are thought to move more rapidly and undergo organizational changes more readily than longer microtubules. In dividing cells, the levels of P60-katanin (the subunit with severing properties) increase as the cell transitions from interphase to mitosis. This suggests that katanin is regulated in part by its absolute levels, given that katanin activity is high dur

SUBMITTER: Karabay A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6729225 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature