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Plant microtubules are highly dynamic. They are polymerized from multiple dispersed nucleation sites in the cytoplasm and go through distinct phases of organization during the cell cycle, including an interphase cortical array, preprophase band, spindle, and cytokinetic phragmoplast. Smertenko et al. (pages 2034-2046) investigate the function of the microtubule-associated protein AtMAP65-1, one of nine isoforms of MAP65 microtubule-bundling proteins in Arabidopsis. They show that recombinant AtMPA65-1 induces microtubule bundling and forms cross-bridges between microtubules in vitro and that cross-bridge formation may require dimerization of the protein. In vivo, ATMAP65 is expressed throughout the cell cycle in all plant organs examined except for petals and anthers, and it binds microtubules at specific stages of the cell cycle. The image shows localization of AtMAP65-1 at various stages in the cell cycle. Top left to right: preprophase and metaphase. Bottom left to right: anaphase and telophase. Colors indicate tubulin (green), AtMAP65-1 (red), and DNA (blue); yellow corresponds to tubulin and AtMAP65-1 colocalization