TUBA1A

What is TUBA1A?

The cytoskeleton consists of three main types of cytoplasmic fibers: microtubule, microfilament and intermediate filament.

TUBA1A (Tubulin alpha-1A chain) is a structural gene that encodes tubulin α-1A chain. TUBA1A, also known as α-tubulin, belongs to the tubulin family. α-tubulin is one of the components of cytoskeleton, which exists in the cytoplasm of almost all eukaryotes. Under the action of microtubule-associated protein (MAp), TUBA1A (α-tubulin) and TUBAIB (β-tubulin) are alternately arranged to form fibrils in a helical form. These two tubulins have similar three-dimensional configurations and can be closely combined to form dimers to form microtubule assembly subunits, and then further assembled into microtubules. Microtubules can bind to two moles of GTP, one at the exchangeable site on the β chain and the other at the non-exchangeable site on the α chain.

The Structure of TUBA1A

α-tubulin and β-tubulin, protected by microtubule associated proteins (MAp), are alternately arranged in helical form to form fibrils, which are then further assembled into helical microtubules containing 13 profilaments.

α-tubulin consists of 450 amino acids. The molecular weight of α-tubulin is about 55 kDa, which is divided into N-terminal region, intermediate region and C-terminal region.

There is a GTP binding site in the N-terminal region, which is an irreversible binding site. The binding site of α-tubulin to GTP is called N site because GTP is buried on the interface between α-and β-heterodimers and is not easy to exchange with GTP in the cytoplasm.

Another component of microtubules, β-tubulin, whose binding site to GTP is located on the surface of heterodimer, is exchangeable and is called E site.

The intermediate region is a ring structure composed of amino acids, which contains sites that stably bind to taxanes. The main function of the intermediate region is to maintain the stability of microtubules.

The C-terminal region is an anti-microtubule drug binding region, which can also be combined with MAp to regulate microtubule assembly. This region determines the subtype of tubulin. Both α-tubulin and β-tubulin have acidic C-terminal.

The Expression of TUBA1A

α-tubulin is an important component of the cytoskeleton, which exists in the cytoplasm of almost all eukaryotes. It is highly expressed in the fetal brain. In addition, the expression of TUBA1A is abnormal in breast cancer, gastric cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, rectal cancer and other different tumor tissues.

The Function of TUBA1A

As an important component of cytoskeleton, TUBAIA is ubiquitous in eukaryotic cells, and its biological functions mainly include:

α-tubulin is an important subunit of cytoskeleton, which plays a role in maintaining cell morphology, intracellular substance transport, signal transduction, mitotic spindle formation and chromosome separation, and can affect the proliferation of tumor cells. α-tubulin is also the main component of grana and centrosome.

As an important component of microtubule, the abnormality of α-tubulin may be closely related to uncontrolled cell proliferation, tumorigenesis and malignant biological behavior of tumor cells.

Tubulin is involved in the occurrence and progression of tumor, and the increase of its stability can promote the proliferation of tumor cells and reduce the sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs. Studies have shown that the expression of tubulin subtypes in ovarian cancer, breast cancer, gastric cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and other tumor cells is related to the prognosis of tumors.

With the further study of the role of α-tubulin in tumors, α-tubulin and its inhibitors are expected to provide new therapeutic strategies for targeted therapy of tumors.

In addition, because the TUBA1A gene is evolutionarily conserved and widely expressed in most eukaryotic cell lines, α-tubulin antibody has been shown to be an attractive and effective loading control in WB experiments.

Applications of TUBA1A in Treatment

Microtubules play an important role in the process of tumor cell division and reproduction, and anti-tumor drugs targeting microtubules have become the focus of research in recent years. There are two types of tubulin inhibitors: one is tubulin depolymerizers that inhibit tubulin polymerization, such as vincristine and colchicine, and the other is tubulin polymerizers that promote tubulin polymerization, such as paclitaxel.

Hot Products of TUBA1A

TUBA1A Monoclonal Antibody (ELISA, WB, IHC, IF, FC, IP) (CSB-MA754656A0m)