Anti-beta-Tubulin (beta-monoE), pAb (IN115)

Polyglutamylation is an evolutionarily conserved protein post-translational modification in which glutamate side chains of variable lengths are formed on the modified protein. The most prominent substrate is tubulin, the building block of microtubules (MTs). Polyglutamylation has been found on both, alpha- and beta-tubulin. It is catalyzed by multiple enzymes that belong to the family of tubulin tyrosine-ligase like (TTLL) enzymes. These TTLLs have substrate (alpha- vs beta-tubulin) as well as reaction (initiation vs elongation) specificities. These subtle changes in levels of polyglutamylation on specific tubulin isoforms could in turn be influencing the diverse MT functions that are regulated by polyglutamylation. The beta-monoE antibody selectively labels glutamylation of beta-tubulin due to its specificity to a sequence motif (GE(*-E)F) that only exists in beta-tubulin isotypes. It allows to specifically detect beta-tubulin glutamylation in brain tubulin, where other antibodies predominantly detect alpha-tubulin glutamylation.