The structure of microtubule-bound tau

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The tau protein is a neuronal microtubule-associated protein which stabilizes microtubules and regulates the transport of cargo along microtubules. Although intense research has revealed much about the function of the protein tau and its involvement in Alzheimer's disease during the past years, it still remains unclear how tau binds to microtubules. Here I propose to characterize the structural properties of tau bound to microtubules using NMR spectroscopy. Information about the precise nature of the interactions between tau and microtubules is of central importance as altered tau-microtubule interactions change the balance in the fraction of tau bound to microtubules versus soluble tau and lead to depolymerisation of microtubules and formation tau tangles a behaviour that has been implicated in a large number of neurodegenerative diseases.