Researchers are studying how components of cell structure function in order to determine viable ways to use them for fighting such ailments as cancer, Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s diseases. The model of microtubule assembly that most people accept shows the individual subunits, dimers of the protein tubulin, just link to grow the cylinder. But another model indicates that tubulin dimmers first form an open sheet structure that later closes into the cylinder. Xing and his team concluded that their computational study of the models indicate that the second model should be seriously considered for further testing.
