The tubulin database: Linking mutations, modifications, ligands and local interactions.

Area of Science:

• Cell Biology
• Biochemistry
• Genetics

Background:

• Microtubules, built from α-β tubulin heterodimers, are vital for eukaryotic cell structure and function.
• Existing tubulin data is vast but fragmented across organisms, isotypes, and data types, hindering comprehensive analysis.
• Previous work established TubulinDB, a catalog of missense tubulin mutations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To significantly update and expand the TubulinDB online resource.
• To integrate a cross-referenced catalog of tubulin post-translational modifications (PTMs).
• To analyze tubulin structures for interactions with ligands and associated proteins.

Main Methods:

• Expanded TubulinDB to nearly 18,000 entries, including PTMs from diverse sources.
• Utilized tubulin protein structures to map ligand and protein interaction sites.
• Developed a universal tubulin numbering system for cross-referencing diverse data.

Main Results:

• Identified previously unlinked patterns, including loss of PTM sites in cancer and tubulinopathies.
• Cataloged tubulin mutations affecting interactions with MAPs, dynein, and doublecortin.
• Created a unified framework for tubulin data, accommodating sequence variations.

Conclusions:

• The expanded TubulinDB serves as a crucial curated resource for tubulin research.
• The database facilitates linking model organism data to human tubulin variant findings.
• Aims to support hypothesis generation and experimental design for dissecting tubulin function.