Promoting Diversity in the Cytoskeleton through STEM-Structural Transitions and Energetics of Microtubule Subunits.

All microtubules assemble from tubulin subunits, but the functional impact of tubulin isotypes has been unclear. Reporting in Developmental Cell, Chaaban et al. (2018) and Ti et al. (2018) show that tubulin isotypes differ in their conformational flexibility, which alters microtubule dynamics and architecture, yet maintain "lock-and-key" interactions with neighbors.