NCBI Summary:
Microtubules of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton perform essential and diverse functions and are composed of a heterodimer of alpha and beta tubulin. The genes encoding these microtubule constituents are part of the tubulin superfamily, which is composed of six distinct families. Genes from the alpha, beta and gamma tubulin families are found in all eukaryotes. The alpha and beta tubulins represent the major components of microtubules, while gamma tubulin plays a critical role in the nucleation of microtubule assembly. There are multiple alpha and beta tubulin genes and they are highly conserved among and between species. This gene is an alpha tubulin gene that encodes a protein identical to the mouse testis-specific Tuba3 and Tuba7 gene products. This gene is located in the 13q11 region, which is associated with the genetic diseases Clouston hidrotic ectodermal dysplasia and Kabuki syndrome. Alternative splicing has been observed for this gene and two variants have been identified.
General function
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Cellular localization
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Ovarian function
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Expression regulated by
LH
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Ovarian localization
Granulosa
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Changes in mouse granulosa cell gene expression during early luteinization. McRae RS et al. Changes in gene expression during granulosa cell luteinization have been measured using serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE). Immature normal mice were treated with pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) or PMSG followed, 48 h later, by human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Granulosa cells were collected from preovulatory follicles after PMSG injection or PMSG/hCG injection and SAGE libraries generated from the isolated mRNA. The combined libraries contained 105,224 tags representing 40,248 unique transcripts. Overall, 715 transcripts showed a significant difference in abundance between the two libraries of which 216 were significantly down-regulated by hCG and 499 were significantly up-regulated. Among transcripts differentially regulated, there were clear and expected changes in genes involved in steroidogenesis as well as clusters of genes involved in modeling of the extracellular matrix, regulation of the cytoskeleton and intra and intercellular signaling. The SAGE libraries described here provide a base for functional investigation of the regulation of granulosa cell luteinization.