Nucleation of microtubule assembly by a gamma-tubulin-containing ring complex

Zheng, Yixian
Wong, Mei Lie
Alberts, Bruce
Mitchison, Tim

(Zheng, Wong, Alberts) Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, (Mitchison) Department of Pharmacology, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143-0448, USA.
(Alberts) Present address: National Academy of Sciences, 2101 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20418, USA.

Nature 378(6557):p 578-583, December 7, 1995.

The highly conserved protein gamma-tubulin is required for microtubule nucleation in vivo. When viewed in the electron microscope, a highly purified gamma-tubulin complex from Xenopus consisting of at least seven different proteins is seen to have an open ring structure. This complex acts as an active microtubule-nucleating unit which can cap the minus ends of microtubules in vitro.