Purification of Affinity Tag-free Recombinant Tubulin from Insect Cells

α/β-tubulin heterodimers, which can harbor diverse isotypes and post-translational modifications, polymerize into microtubules that are fundamental to many cellular processes. Due to long-standing challenges in generating recombinant tubulin, however, it has been difficult to examine the properties of specific tubulin isotypes. Here, we provide a protocol for purifying milligrams of affinity tag-free, isotypically pure recombinant tubulin. Our method can be applicable to any tubulin of interest, opening the door to dissecting how tubulin diversity regulates microtubule function. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please see Ti et al. (2018).