This family includes the tubulin alpha, beta and gamma chains, as well as the bacterial FtsZ family of proteins. Members of this family are involved in polymer formation. FtsZ is the polymer-forming protein of bacterial cell division. It is part of a ring in the middle of the dividing cell that is required for constriction of cell membrane and cell envelope to yield two daughter cells. FtsZ and tubulin are GTPases. FtsZ can polymerise into tubes, sheets, and rings in vitro and is ubiquitous in eubacteria and archaea. Tubulin is the major component of microtubules.

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2: Tubulin and FtsZ form a distinct family of GTPases. Nogales E, Downing KH, Amos LA, Lowe J; Nat Struct Biol 1998;5:451-458. PMID:9628483

3: Crystal structure of the bacterial cell-division protein FtsZ [see comments] Lowe J, Amos LA; Nature 1998;391:203-206. PMID:9428770

4: An essential cell division gene of Drosophila, absent from Saccharomyces, encodes an unusual protein with tubulin-like and myosin-like peptide motifs. Miklos GL, Yamamoto M, Burns RG, Maleszka R; Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997;94:5189-5194. PMID:9144213