The important anticancer drug paclitaxel bind
s to the
![](/image<font color=)
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s/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">-
subunit of the
![](/image<font color=)
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![](/image<font color=)
s/gifchar
s/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">-tubulin dimer in the microtubulein a
stoichiometric ratio, promoting microtubule polymerization and
stability. The conformation ofmicrotubule-bound drug ha
s been the
subject of inten
se
study, and variou
s sugge
stion
s have been propo
sed.In previou
s work we pre
sented experimental and theoretical evidence that paclitaxel adopt
s a T-
shapedconformation when it i
s bound to tubulin. In thi
s study we report additional experimental data and calculation
sthat delineate the allowable parameter
s for effective paclitaxel-tubulin interaction
s.