Berkeley scientists discover Taxol's effect on cells' microtubules

Berkeley scientists have discovered the extremely subtle effect that the prescription drug Taxol has inside cells that makes it one of the most widely used anticancer agents in the world. The details, involving the drug's interference with the normal function of microtubules, part of the cell's skeleton, could help in designing better anticancer drugs, or in improving Taxol and other drugs already known to disrupt the workings of microtubules. Microtubules - the skeleton of the cell - grow and shrink constantly, pushing and pulling things around the cell. They grow by addition of tubulin, hydrolyzing (red turns to blue) and locking into a strained position. When the tubulin cap stops growing, the strain pulls the microtubule apart in a rapid peeling motion. Chromosomes attached to a peeling microtubule are physically pulled along. Taxol prevents the compaction and straining of the microtubule, inactivating it and eventually killing the cell. Video by Eva Nogales lab, UC Berkeley. Full story: http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2014/0... http://www.berkeley.edu   / ucberkeley     / ucberkeley