Proteins residing at the plus and minus ends of microtubules have been thought not to communicate with each other, but recent findings on bona fide nucleation factors also regulating microtubule dynamics have challenged this notion. New work by Bouissou et al (2014) in The EMBO Journal now reveals that interplay between the nucleation factor γ‐TuRC and the plus‐end tracking protein EB1 controls...

A subset of microtubule-associated proteins, including cytoplasmic linker protein (CLIP)-170, dynactin, EB1, adenomatous polyposis coli, cytoplasmic dynein, CLASPs, and LIS-1, has been shown recently to target to the plus ends of microtubules. The mechanisms and functions of this binding specificity are not understood, although a role in encouraging microtubule elongation has been proposed. To ...

Cytoplasmic linker associated proteins (CLASPs) comprise a class of microtubule (MT) plus end-binding proteins (+TIPs) that contribute to the dynamics and organization of MTs during many cellular processes, among them mitosis. Human CLASP proteins contain multiple MT-binding domains, including tumor over-expressed gene (TOG) domains, and a Ser-x-Ile-Pro (SxIP) motif known to target some +TIPs t...