The binding mode of epothilone A on alpha,beta-tubulin by electron crystallography

The structure of epothilone A, bound to α,β-tubulin in zinc-stabilized sheets, was determined by a combination of electron crystallography at 2.89 angstrom resolution and nuclear magnetic resonance–based conformational analysis. The complex explains both the broad-based epothilone structure-activity relationship and the known mutational resistance profile. Comparison with Taxol shows that the longstanding expectation of a common pharmacophore is not met, because each ligand exploits the tubulin-binding pocket in a unique and independent manner.