Tubulin isotype specificity in neuronal migration: Tuba8 can't fill in for Tuba1a.

Several tubulin isotypes, including Tuba1a, are associated with brain malformations. In this issue, Belvindrah et al. (2017. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201607074) show that Tuba1a and Tuba8 differentially regulate microtubule organization in neurons, and they provide insights into the mechanisms by which Tuba1a mutations disrupt adult mouse brain morphology.