Question

How do Taxol and Nocodazole affect microtubules, and subsequently the developing organism?

Answer 1

Answer:

Taxol induces the assembly of microtubules, while Nocodazole suppresses tubulin assembly  

Explanation:

Taxol and nocodazole are antimitotic drugs, i.e., drugs that inhibit the progression through the cell cycle, which is useful for killing cancer cells. Microtubules are proteins that act as the 'skeleton of the cell', which need to be reorganized when cells replicate. These structures (microtubules) are composed of α and β-tubulin heterodimers which assemble into protofilaments of microtubules. Taxol is an antimitotic drug that induces the formation of microtubules, thereby inhibiting microtubules' reorganization during mitosis. In consequence, cells treated with Taxol enter into apoptosis (i.e., programmed cell death). Moreover, Nocodazole is known to induce microtubule disassembly by interfering with the polymerization of tubulin monomers. In consequence, Nocodazole is useful to depolymerize the microtubule cytoskeleton.