scholarly journals Yeast proteins associated with microtubules in vitro and in vivo.

1992 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Barnes ◽  
K A Louie ◽  
D Botstein

Conditions were established for the self-assembly of milligram amounts of purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae tubulin. Microtubules assembled with pure yeast tubulin were not stabilized by taxol; hybrid microtubules containing substoichiometric amounts of bovine tubulin were stabilized. Yeast microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) were identified on affinity matrices made from hybrid and all-bovine microtubules. About 25 yeast MAPs were isolated. The amino-terminal sequences of several of these were determined: three were known metabolic enzymes, two were GTP-binding proteins (including the product of the SAR1 gene), and three were novel proteins not found in sequence databases. Affinity-purified antisera were generated against synthetic peptides corresponding to two of the apparently novel proteins (38 and 50 kDa). Immunofluorescence microscopy showed that both these proteins colocalize with intra- and extranuclear microtubules in vivo.

2006 ◽  
Vol 172 (7) ◽  
pp. 1009-1022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jawdat Al-Bassam ◽  
Mark van Breugel ◽  
Stephen C. Harrison ◽  
Anthony Hyman

Stu2p from budding yeast belongs to the conserved Dis1/XMAP215 family of microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs). The common feature of proteins in this family is the presence of HEAT repeat–containing TOG domains near the NH2 terminus. We have investigated the functions of the two TOG domains of Stu2p in vivo and in vitro. Our data suggest that Stu2p regulates microtubule dynamics through two separate activities. First, Stu2p binds to a single free tubulin heterodimer through its first TOG domain. A large conformational transition in homodimeric Stu2p from an open structure to a closed one accompanies the capture of a single free tubulin heterodimer. Second, Stu2p has the capacity to associate directly with microtubule ends, at least in part, through its second TOG domain. These two properties lead to the stabilization of microtubules in vivo, perhaps by the loading of tubulin dimers at microtubule ends. We suggest that this mechanism of microtubule regulation is a conserved feature of the Dis1/XMAP215 family of MAPs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 3995
Author(s):  
Cheong-Yong Yun ◽  
Nahyun Choi ◽  
Jae Un Lee ◽  
Eun Jung Lee ◽  
Ji Young Kim ◽  
...  

Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), which is linked to autophagy regulation and melanogenesis regulation, is activated by marliolide. In this study, we investigated the effect of a marliolide derivative on melanosome degradation through the autophagy pathway. The effect of the marliolide derivative on melanosome degradation was investigated in α-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH)-treated melanocytes, melanosome-incorporated keratinocyte, and ultraviolet (UV)B-exposed HRM-2 mice (melanin-possessing hairless mice). The marliolide derivative, 5-methyl-3-tetradecylidene-dihydro-furan-2-one (DMF02), decreased melanin pigmentation by melanosome degradation in α-MSH-treated melanocytes and melanosome-incorporated keratinocytes, evidenced by premelanosome protein (PMEL) expression, but did not affect melanogenesis-associated proteins. The UVB-induced hyperpigmentation in HRM-2 mice was also reduced by a topical application of DMF02. DMF02 activated Nrf2 and induced autophagy in vivo, evidenced by decreased PMEL in microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3B (LC3)-II-expressed areas. DMF02 also induced melanosome degradation via autophagy in vitro, and DMF02-induced melanosome degradation was recovered by chloroquine (CQ), which is a lysosomal inhibitor. In addition, Nrf2 silencing by siRNA attenuated the DMF02-induced melanosome degradation via the suppression of p62. DMF02 induced melanosome degradation in melanocytes and keratinocytes by regulating autophagy via Nrf2-p62 activation. Therefore, Nrf2 activator could be a promising therapeutic agent for reducing hyperpigmentation.


1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (10) ◽  
pp. 1202-1209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. B. Keates

A method is described for measuring the quantities of stable and dynamic microtubules in a population in vitro. The method exploits the tendency of dynamic microtubules to depolymerize rapidly after being sheared. Stable microtubules, such as those protected by microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs), are broken to a smaller size by shearing, but do not depolymerize into subunits. The usual difficulty with this procedure is that the tubulin released from the dynamic microtubules rapidly repolymerizes before the end point of depolymerization can be measured. This has been overcome by including a small quantity of tubulin–colchicine complex in the mixture to block the repolymerization. For a total of 24 μM tubulin in a polymerization mixture, 10 μM of the sample polymerized originally under the conditions used. When 1.05 μM tubulin–colchicine complex was added at the time of shearing, the dynamic microtubules depolymerized, but the tubulin was released was unable to repolymerize and a small fraction of stable microtubules that resisted shear-induced depolymerization could then be detected. When traces of MAPs (0.23–2.8% by mass) were included in the tubulin mixture, the fraction of stable microtubules increased from 5% in the absence of added MAPs to 41% in the presence of 2.8% MAPs. All the MAPs in the mixture were found in the stable fraction and this stable fraction forms early during microtubule assembly. Calculations on the extent of enrichment of MAPs in the stable fraction indicated that as little as 4% MAPs in a microtubule protected it from shear-induced disassembly. The results suggest that low levels of MAPs may distribute nonrandomly in the microtubule population.Key words: dynamics, microtubules, tubulin, microtubule-associated proteins, self-assembly.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Roy ◽  
Brice Magne ◽  
Maude Vaillancourt-Audet ◽  
Mathieu Blais ◽  
Stéphane Chabaud ◽  
...  

Cancer research has considerably progressed with the improvement of in vitro study models, helping to understand the key role of the tumor microenvironment in cancer development and progression. Over the last few years, complex 3D human cell culture systems have gained much popularity over in vivo models, as they accurately mimic the tumor microenvironment and allow high-throughput drug screening. Of particular interest, in vitrohuman 3D tissue constructs, produced by the self-assembly method of tissue engineering, have been successfully used to model the tumor microenvironment and now represent a very promising approach to further develop diverse cancer models. In this review, we describe the importance of the tumor microenvironment and present the existing in vitro cancer models generated through the self-assembly method of tissue engineering. Lastly, we highlight the relevance of this approach to mimic various and complex tumors, including basal cell carcinoma, cutaneous neurofibroma, skin melanoma, bladder cancer, and uveal melanoma.


1989 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-488
Author(s):  
PAULA KARECLA ◽  
ELIZABETH HIRST ◽  
PETER BAYLEY

Polymorphism in the self-assembly of tubulin dimer and microtubule protein (tubulin plus the microtubule-associated proteins) has been investigated as a function of systematic variation of solution composition (i.e. buffer ion, [glycerol] and [Mg2+]). The nature of the assembly product was examined using negative staining and thin sectioning electron microscopy. The morphology of the product of assembly of tubulin dimer was found to be strongly influenced by the concentration of glycerol and Mg2+ in Pipes and Mes buffers; the effects are less marked in phosphate buffer. Formation of bona fide microtubules in O.l M-Pipes occurs for a limited range of solution conditions (e.g. with [glycerol] <2 M and [Mg2+]<1mM). Conditions of elevated [glycerol] and [Mg2+], which enhance the rate and extent of assembly, have the adverse effect of strongly promoting the formation of polymorphic forms in addition to, and in place of, the normal microtubule morphology. In both Pipes and Mes buffers, increasing [glycerol] from 1 to 3 M favours the formation of extended multiply curved sheets, apparently made up from a basic structure with an S-like crosssection. By contrast, increasing [Mg2+] promotes the formation of junctions between microtubule walls, giving products whose cross-section shows multiple hook-like appendages, attached to closed microtubules. The assembly of tubulin dimer in a typical ‘dimer assembly buffer’ (e.g. 0.05-0.1 MMes, with 1–3.4M-glycerol and 2–7mM-Mg2+), invariably produces substantial proportions of nonmicrotubule structures such as open sheets, ribbons, and hooked structures. We conclude that the self-assembly of tubulin dimer exclusively into bona fide microtubules occurs over a very restricted range of solution conditions in the normally used Pipes- and Mes-based buffers. Deviation from these conditions readily promotes the formation of mixtures of polymorphic forms. Many buffer systems used for the assembly and disassembly of microtubules composed of tubulin dimer appear likely to promote the formation of structures related to, but significantly different from, normal microtubules. This represents a cautionary factor in the interpretation of in vitro assembly and disassembly properties of microtubules


2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert D. G. de Roos

Current theories about the origin of the eukaryotic cell all assume that during evolution a prokaryotic cell acquired a nucleus. Here, it is shown that a scenario in which the nucleus acquired a plasma membrane is inherently less complex because existing interfaces remain intact during evolution. Using this scenario, the evolution to the first eukaryotic cell can be modeled in three steps, based on the self-assembly of cellular membranes by lipid-protein interactions. First, the inclusion of chromosomes in a nuclear membrane is mediated by interactions between laminar proteins and lipid vesicles. Second, the formation of a primitive endoplasmic reticulum, or exomembrane, is induced by the expression of intrinsic membrane proteins. Third, a plasma membrane is formed by fusion of exomembrane vesicles on the cytoskeletal protein scaffold. All three self-assembly processes occur both in vivo and in vitro. This new model provides a gradual Darwinistic evolutionary model of the origins of the eukaryotic cell and suggests an inherent ability of an ancestral, primitive genome to induce its own inclusion in a membrane.


Nanoscale ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (34) ◽  
pp. 15907-15916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuha Zhou ◽  
Ying Piao ◽  
Lingqiao Hao ◽  
Guanyu Wang ◽  
Zhuxian Zhou ◽  
...  

pH-responsive nanofibers are obtained by the self-assembly of the camptothecin prodrug and surface-coating, which can efficiently enter cancer cells in vitro and penetrate deep into tumor tissue in vivo.


1999 ◽  
Vol 144 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Becket Feierbach ◽  
Eva Nogales ◽  
Kenneth H. Downing ◽  
Tim Stearns

Tubulin is a heterodimer of α- and β-tubulin polypeptides. Assembly of the tubulin heterodimer in vitro requires the CCT chaperonin complex, and a set of five proteins referred to as the tubulin cofactors (Tian, F., Y. Huang, H. Rommelaere, J. Vandekerckhove, C. Ampe, and N.J. Cowan. 1996. Cell. 86:287–296; Tian, G., S.A. Lewis, B. Feierbach, T. Stearns, H. Rommelaere, C. Ampe, and N.J. Cowan. 1997. J. Cell Biol. 138:821–832). We report the characterization of Alf1p, the yeast ortholog of mammalian cofactor B. Alf1p interacts with α-tubulin in both two-hybrid and immunoprecipitation assays. Alf1p and cofactor B contain a single CLIP-170 domain, which is found in several microtubule-associated proteins. Mutation of the CLIP-170 domain in Alf1p disrupts the interaction with α-tubulin. Mutations in α-tubulin that disrupt the interaction with Alf1p map to a domain on the cytoplasmic face of α-tubulin; this domain is distinct from the region of interaction between α-tubulin and β-tubulin. Alf1p-green fluorescent protein (GFP) is able to associate with microtubules in vivo, and this localization is abolished either by mutation of the CLIP-170 domain in Alf1p, or by mutation of the Alf1p-binding domain in α-tubulin. Analysis of double mutants constructed between null alleles of ALF1 and PAC2, which encodes the other yeast α-tubulin cofactor, suggests that Alf1p and Pac2p act in the same pathway leading to functional α-tubulin. The phenotype of overexpression of ALF1 suggests that Alf1p can act to sequester α-tubulin from interaction with β-tubulin, raising the possibility that it plays a regulatory role in the formation of the tubulin heterodimer.


1983 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 424-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
J G Izant ◽  
J A Weatherbee ◽  
J R McIntosh

Microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) that copurify with tubulin through multiple cycles of in vitro assembly have been implicated as regulatory factors and effectors in the in vivo activity of microtubules. As an approach to the analysis of the functions of these molecules, a collection of lymphocyte hybridoma monoclonal antibodies has been generated using MAPs from HeLa cell microtubule protein as antigen. Two of the hybridoma clones secrete IgGs that bind to distinct sites on what appears to be a 200,000-dalton polypeptide. Both immunoglobulin preparations stain interphase and mitotic apparatus microtubules in cultured human cells. One of the clones (N-3B4.3.10) secretes antibody that reacts only with cells of human origin, while antibody from the other hybridoma (N-2B5.11.2) cross-reacts with BSC and PtK1 cells, but not with 3T3 cells. In PtK1 cells the N-2B5 antigen is associated with the microtubules of the mitotic apparatus, but there is no staining of the interphase microtubule array; rather, the antibody stains an ill-defined juxtanuclear structure. Further, neither antibody stains vinblastine crystals in either human or marsupial cells at any stage of the cell cycle. N-2B5 antibody microinjected into living PtK1 cells binds to the mitotic spindle, but does not cause a rapid dissolution of either mitotic or interphase microtubule structures. When injected before the onset of anaphase, however, the N-2B5 antibody inhibits proper chromosome partition in mitotic PtK1 cells. N-2B5 antibody injected into interphase cells causes a redistribution of MAP antigen onto the microtubule network.


1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 1055-1063 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianshe Zhang ◽  
Thomas H. MacRae

A 49 kilodalton (kDa) protein, previously proposed to cross-link microtubules, was purified to apparent homogeneity from cell-free extracts of the brine shrimp Artemia. When incubated with tubulin under assembly conditions, the purified 49-kDa protein cross-linked the resulting microtubules. Preformed microtubules were also cross-linked when incubated with the 49-kDa protein. Upon centrifugation through sucrose cushions the 49-kDa protein cosedimented with microtubules, suggesting a stable association between the cross-linking protein and tubulin. Such microtubules were interconnected by particles which were circular, bilobed, or elongated in shape. Disruption of microtubule cross-linking and dissociation of the 49-kDa protein from microtubules occurred in the presence of ATP and 5′-adenylylimidodiphosphate (AMP–PNP), a nonhydrolyzable analogue of ATP. The 49-kDa protein was moderately resistant to heat, it did not stimulate tubulin assembly, and it did not react with antibodies to neural microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) and kinesin. These observations indicate that the 49-kDa protein is different from many known MAPs, a conclusion strengthened by the inability of antibodies raised to the 49-kDa protein to recognize these proteins. The amino terminal 15 amino acid residues of the 49-kDa protein were determined by Edman digestion and an antibody raised to this peptide reacted with the 49-kDa protein on Western blots. Microtubule cross-linking was unaffected by the synthetic amino-terminal peptide, even when it was present at a fivefold molar excess over the 49-kDa protein. A search of three protein databanks revealed that the amino terminus of the 49-kDa protein is unique among published sequences. The findings verify our earlier proposal that Artemia contains a 49-kDa microtubule cross-linking protein and demonstrate that it has a novel set of characteristics. The 49-kDa protein has the potential to play an important role in microtubule organization and function.Key words: microtubule cross-linking, microtubule-associated proteins, Artemia.


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