Ciliates contain two types of nuclei: a micronucleus and a macronucleus. The micronucleus
serves as the germ line nucleus but does not express its genes. The macronucleus provides …

The genetic code, formerly thought to be frozen, is now known to be in a state of evolution.
This was first shown in 1979 by Barrell et al.(G. Barrell, AT Bankier, and J. Drouin, Nature …

Tubulin, the subunit protein of microtubules, is an α/β heterodimer. In many organisms, both
α and β exist in numerous isotypic forms encoded by different genes. In addition, both α and …

Microtubules are involved in a variety of functions. They play critical roles in mitosis,
intracellular transport, and axonemal motility, as well as acting as a cytoskeleton, and …

The unexpected discovery of introns raised many questions about gene evolution. We
provide evidence that actin and tubulin introns were gained between the G and R of the …

Publisher Summary Tetrahymena is a large and complex cell yet a rather small and simple
ciliate. Its normal dimensions are about 50 μm in length and 20 μm in maximum width …

Replacement of lysine-350 by methionine in the beta-tubulin gene of Chlamydomonas
confers resistance to microtubule-depolymerizing drugs and increased sensitivity to the …

In several species of ciliates, the universal stop codons UAA and UAG are translated into
glutamine, while in the euplotids, the glutamine codon usage is normal, but UGA appears to …

The association of tubulin with the plasma membrane comprises multiple levels of
penetration into the bilayer: from integral membrane protein, to attachment via …

Publisher Summary The molecules of α-and β-tubulin found in microtubules may be
posttranslationally modified in various ways. One such modification is the acetylation of the …