Global and local control of microtubule destabilization promoted by a catastrophe kinesin MCAK/XKCM1.

Traditionally, kinesins have been identified as proteins that use the energy of ATP to translocate along microtubules. However, in the last decade some kinesin-like proteins were found to destabilize microtubule ends. The kinesins that destabilize microtubules are known as "catastrophe kinesins". Analyses of a Xenopus member of the catastrophe kinesins called MCAK/XKCM1 have shown that, in fact, catastrophe kinesins are essential for controlling the distribution of microtubules by inducing their depolymerization. Therefore, unraveling the mechanisms of how microtubule destabilization promoted by these catastrophe kinesins is controlled is essential for understanding how microtubules in a cell are distributed. Here we give an overview of the studies that have focused on the global and local control of microtubule destabilization promoted by MCAK/XKCM1.