NIH VideoCast - Everything you wanted to know about microtubules but were afraid to ask

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Everything you wanted to know about microtubules but were afraid to ask

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Air date:	Friday, February 8, 2019, 12:00:00 PM Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
Views:	Total views: 288 (52 Live, 236 On-demand)
Category:	NIH Director's Seminars
Runtime:	00:59:50
Closed captioning:	Check box to display CC outside of the video Note: You can drag the captioning window around and resize it
Description:	NIH Director's Seminar Series Dr. Roll-Mecak will discuss the research of the Laboratory of Cell Biology and Biophysics Section, NINDS. The title of her talk is "Everything you wanted to know about microtubules but were afraid to ask". In addition to providing structural support, microtubules form a complex and dynamic intracellular "highway" that delivers molecular cargo from one end of the cell to another - which in the case of neuronal cells can span several feet. Given the continually changing cell physiology, this delivery system undergoes constant remodeling as cargo is transported to different destinations with high temporal and spatial accuracy. Failures in this highly coordinated transport system lead to disease and mutations in genes that encode microtubule dynamics regulators have been implicated in neurodegeneration, cardiovascular disease, cancers and viral infections. Not surprisingly, tubulin, the building block of the microtubule network is one of the most post-translationally modified proteins in the cell. Dr. Roll Mecak's laboratory combines biophysical and cell biological approaches to understand the interplay between microtubules and their regulators and how the chemical complexity of microtubules tunes the behavior of motors and microtubule associated proteins. Despite the abundance and complexity of tubulin modifications, their effects on microtubule behavior are still poorly understood. Is the microtubule more than just a structural strut, or a naive roadway for cellular components to transit along? Is there a "tubulin code", written in the rich language of the post-translational modifications of tubulin that, much like a histone code, provides specificity and regulation to cellular dynamics and to the trafficking of motor proteins and their cargo on the cellular highway? How functional diversity is imparted to different microtubules is a central question in cell biology with important implications for human health.

NLM Title:	Everything you wanted to know about microtubules but were afraid to ask / Antonina Roll-Mecak.
Author:	Roll-Mecak, Antonina. National Institutes of Health (U.S.),
Publisher:
Abstract:	(CIT): NIH Director's Seminar Series Dr. Roll-Mecak will discuss the research of the Laboratory of Cell Biology and Biophysics Section, NINDS. The title of her talk is "Everything you wanted to know about microtubules but were afraid to ask". In addition to providing structural support, microtubules form a complex and dynamic intracellular "highway" that delivers molecular cargo from one end of the cell to another - which in the case of neuronal cells can span several feet. Given the continually changing cell physiology, this delivery system undergoes constant remodeling as cargo is transported to different destinations with high temporal and spatial accuracy. Failures in this highly coordinated transport system lead to disease and mutations in genes that encode microtubule dynamics regulators have been implicated in neurodegeneration, cardiovascular disease, cancers and viral infections. Not surprisingly, tubulin, the building block of the microtubule network is one of the most post-translationally modified proteins in the cell. Dr. Roll Mecak's laboratory combines biophysical and cell biological approaches to understand the interplay between microtubules and their regulators and how the chemical complexity of microtubules tunes the behavior of motors and microtubule associated proteins. Despite the abundance and complexity of tubulin modifications, their effects on microtubule behavior are still poorly understood. Is the microtubule more than just a structural strut, or a naive roadway for cellular components to transit along? Is there a "tubulin code", written in the rich language of the post-translational modifications of tubulin that, much like a histone code, provides specificity and regulation to cellular dynamics and to the trafficking of motor proteins and their cargo on the cellular highway? How functional diversity is imparted to different microtubules is a central question in cell biology with important implications for human health.
Subjects:	Microtubules--genetics
Publication Types:	Lecture Webcast

NLM Classification:	QU 350
NLM ID:	101743230
CIT Live ID:	31412
Permanent link:	https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=31412

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