TUBA4A explained

Tubulin alpha-4A chain is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TUBA4A gene.^[1]

Function

Microtubules of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton perform essential and diverse functions and are composed of a heterodimer of alpha and beta tubulin. The genes encoding these microtubule constituents are part of the tubulin superfamily, which is composed of six distinct families. Genes from the alpha, beta and gamma tubulin families are found in all eukaryotes. The alpha and beta tubulins represent the major components of microtubules, while gamma tubulin plays a critical role in the nucleation of microtubule assembly. There are multiple alpha and beta tubulin genes and they are highly conserved among and between species. This gene encodes an alpha tubulin that is a highly conserved homolog of a rat testis-specific alpha tubulin.^[2]

Interactions

TUBA4A has been shown to interact with NCOA6^[3] and APC.^[4]

Further reading

• Desai A, Mitchison TJ . Tubulin and FtsZ structures: functional and therapeutic implications . BioEssays . 20 . 7 . 523–7 . Jul 1998 . 9722999 . 10.1002/(SICI)1521-1878(199807)20:7<523::AID-BIES1>3.0.CO;2-L .
• Oakley BR . An abundance of tubulins . Trends in Cell Biology . 10 . 12 . 537–42 . Dec 2000 . 11121746 . 10.1016/S0962-8924(00)01857-2 .
• Dutcher SK . The tubulin fraternity: alpha to eta . Current Opinion in Cell Biology . 13 . 1 . 49–54 . Feb 2001 . 11163133 . 10.1016/S0955-0674(00)00173-3 .
• Kirsch J, Langosch D, Prior P, Littauer UZ, Schmitt B, Betz H . The 93-kDa glycine receptor-associated protein binds to tubulin . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 266 . 33 . 22242–5 . Nov 1991 . 10.1016/S0021-9258(18)54560-9 . 1657993 . free .
• Dobner PR, Kislauskis E, Wentworth BM, Villa-Komaroff L . Alternative 5' exons either provide or deny an initiator methionine codon to the same alpha-tubulin coding region . Nucleic Acids Research . 15 . 1 . 199–218 . Jan 1987 . 3029670 . 340405 . 10.1093/nar/15.1.199 .
• Hall JL, Cowan NJ . Structural features and restricted expression of a human alpha-tubulin gene . Nucleic Acids Research . 13 . 1 . 207–23 . Jan 1985 . 3839072 . 340985 . 10.1093/nar/13.1.207 .
• Alexandrova N, Niklinski J, Bliskovsky V, Otterson GA, Blake M, Kaye FJ, Zajac-Kaye M . The N-terminal domain of c-Myc associates with alpha-tubulin and microtubules in vivo and in vitro . Molecular and Cellular Biology . 15 . 9 . 5188–95 . Sep 1995 . 7651436 . 230766 . 10.1128/MCB.15.9.5188.
• Yamaguchi N, Fukuda MN . Golgi retention mechanism of beta-1,4-galactosyltransferase. Membrane-spanning domain-dependent homodimerization and association with alpha- and beta-tubulins . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 270 . 20 . 12170–6 . May 1995 . 7744867 . 10.1074/jbc.270.33.19551 . free .
• Waterman-Storer CM, Karki S, Holzbaur EL . The p150Glued component of the dynactin complex binds to both microtubules and the actin-related protein centractin (Arp-1) . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 92 . 5 . 1634–8 . Feb 1995 . 7878030 . 42574 . 10.1073/pnas.92.5.1634 . 1995PNAS...92.1634W . free .
• Lu Q, Luduena RF . In vitro analysis of microtubule assembly of isotypically pure tubulin dimers. Intrinsic differences in the assembly properties of alpha beta II, alpha beta III, and alpha beta IV tubulin dimers in the absence of microtubule-associated proteins . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 269 . 3 . 2041–7 . Jan 1994 . 10.1016/S0021-9258(17)42132-6 . 8294455 . free .
• Paschal BM, Holzbaur EL, Pfister KK, Clark S, Meyer DI, Vallee RB . Characterization of a 50-kDa polypeptide in cytoplasmic dynein preparations reveals a complex with p150GLUED and a novel actin . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 268 . 20 . 15318–23 . Jul 1993 . 10.1016/S0021-9258(18)82472-3 . 8325901 . free .
• Huby RD, Carlile GW, Ley SC . Interactions between the protein-tyrosine kinase ZAP-70, the proto-oncoprotein Vav, and tubulin in Jurkat T cells . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 270 . 51 . 30241–4 . Dec 1995 . 8530437 . 10.1074/jbc.270.51.30241 . free .
• Marie-Cardine A, Kirchgessner H, Eckerskorn C, Meuer SC, Schraven B . Human T lymphocyte activation induces tyrosine phosphorylation of alpha-tubulin and its association with the SH2 domain of the p59fyn protein tyrosine kinase . European Journal of Immunology . 25 . 12 . 3290–7 . Dec 1995 . 8566014 . 10.1002/eji.1830251214 . 37614803 .
• Peters JD, Furlong MT, Asai DJ, Harrison ML, Geahlen RL . Syk, activated by cross-linking the B-cell antigen receptor, localizes to the cytosol where it interacts with and phosphorylates alpha-tubulin on tyrosine . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 271 . 9 . 4755–62 . Mar 1996 . 8617742 . 10.1074/jbc.271.9.4755 . free .
• Best A, Ahmed S, Kozma R, Lim L . The Ras-related GTPase Rac1 binds tubulin . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 271 . 7 . 3756–62 . Feb 1996 . 8631991 . 10.1074/jbc.271.7.3756 . free .
• Tokito MK, Howland DS, Lee VM, Holzbaur EL . Functionally distinct isoforms of dynactin are expressed in human neurons . Molecular Biology of the Cell . 7 . 8 . 1167–80 . Aug 1996 . 8856662 . 275970 . 10.1091/mbc.7.8.1167 .
• Tian G, Lewis SA, Feierbach B, Stearns T, Rommelaere H, Ampe C, Cowan NJ . Tubulin subunits exist in an activated conformational state generated and maintained by protein cofactors . The Journal of Cell Biology . 138 . 4 . 821–32 . Aug 1997 . 9265649 . 2138046 . 10.1083/jcb.138.4.821 .
• Vaillant AR, Müller R, Langkopf A, Brown DL . Characterization of the microtubule-binding domain of microtubule-associated protein 1A and its effects on microtubule dynamics . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 273 . 22 . 13973–81 . May 1998 . 9593747 . 10.1074/jbc.273.22.13973 . free .

Notes and References

1. Villasante A, Wang D, Dobner P, Dolph P, Lewis SA, Cowan NJ . Six mouse alpha-tubulin mRNAs encode five distinct isotypes: testis-specific expression of two sister genes . Molecular and Cellular Biology . 6 . 7 . 2409–19 . Jul 1986 . 3785200 . 367794 . 10.1128/mcb.6.7.2409.
2. Web site: Entrez Gene: TUBA4A tubulin, alpha 4a.
3. Goo YH, Sohn YC, Kim DH, Kim SW, Kang MJ, Jung DJ, Kwak E, Barlev NA, Berger SL, Chow VT, Roeder RG, Azorsa DO, Meltzer PS, Suh PG, Song EJ, Lee KJ, Lee YC, Lee JW . Activating signal cointegrator 2 belongs to a novel steady-state complex that contains a subset of trithorax group proteins . Molecular and Cellular Biology . 23 . 1 . 140–9 . Jan 2003 . 12482968 . 140670 . 10.1128/MCB.23.1.140-149.2003 .
4. Zumbrunn J, Kinoshita K, Hyman AA, Näthke IS . Binding of the adenomatous polyposis coli protein to microtubules increases microtubule stability and is regulated by GSK3 beta phosphorylation . Current Biology . 11 . 1 . 44–9 . Jan 2001 . 11166179 . 10.1016/S0960-9822(01)00002-1 . 15004529 . free .