The tubulin code at a glance

Abstract

Microtubules are key cytoskeletal elements of all eukaryotic cells and are assembled of evolutionarily conserved a-tubulin-β-tubulin heterodimers.Despite their uniformstructure,microtubules fulfill a large diversity of functions. A regulatory mechanism to control the specialization of the microtubule cytoskeleton is the 'tubulin code', which is generated by (i) expression of different α- and β-tubulin isotypes, and by (ii) post-translational modifications of tubulin. In this Cell Science at a Glance article and the accompanying poster, we provide a comprehensive overview of the molecular components of the tubulin code, and discuss themechanisms bywhich these components contribute to the generation of functionally specialized microtubules.