scholarly journals Reversible polyglutamylation of alpha- and beta-tubulin and microtubule dynamics in mouse brain neurons.

1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 615-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Audebert ◽  
E Desbruyères ◽  
C Gruszczynski ◽  
A Koulakoff ◽  
F Gros ◽  
...  

The relationship between microtubule dynamics and polyglutamylation of tubulin was investigated in young differentiating mouse brain neurons. Selective posttranslational labeling with [3H]glutamate and immunoblotting with a specific monoclonal antibody (GT335) enabled us to analyze polyglutamylation of both alpha and beta subunits. Nocodazole markedly inhibited incorporation of [3H]glutamate into alpha- and beta-tubulin, whereas taxol had no effect for alpha-tubulin and a stimulating effect for beta-tubulin. These results strongly suggest that microtubule polymers are the preferred substrate for polyglutamylation. Chase experiments revealed the existence of a reversal reaction that, in the case of alpha-tubulin, was not affected by microtubule drugs, suggesting that deglutamylation of this subunit can occur on both polymers and soluble tubulin. Evidence was obtained that deglutamylation of alpha-tubulin operates following two distinct rates depending on the length of the polyglutamyl chain, the distal units (4th-6th) being removed rapidly whereas the proximal ones (1st-3rd) appearing much more resistant to deglutamylation. Partition of glutamylated alpha-tubulin isoforms was also correlated with the length of the polyglutamyl chain. Forms bearing four to six units were recovered specifically in the polymeric fraction, whereas those bearing one to three units were distributed evenly between polymeric and soluble fractions. It thus appears that the slow rate component of the deglutamylation reaction offers to neurons the possibility to maintain a basal level of glutamylated alpha-tubulin in the soluble pool independently of microtubule dynamics. Finally, some differences observed in the glutamylation of alpha- and beta-tubulin suggest that distinct enzymes are involved.

1992 ◽  
Vol 288 (3) ◽  
pp. 919-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
I Linhartová ◽  
P Dráber ◽  
E Dráberová ◽  
V Viklický

Individual beta-tubulin isoforms in developing mouse brain were characterized using immunoblotting, after preceding high-resolution isoelectric focusing, with monoclonal antibodies against different structural regions of beta-tubulin. Some of the antibodies reacted with a limited number of tubulin isoforms in all stages of brain development and in HeLa cells. The epitope for the TU-14 antibody was located in the isotype-defining domain and was present on the beta-tubulin isotypes of classes I, II and IV, but absent on the neuron-specific class-III isotype. The data suggest that non-class-III beta-tubulins in mouse brain are substrates for developmentally regulated post-translational modifications and that beta-tubulins of non-neuronal cells are also post-translationally modified.


1995 ◽  
Vol 108 (9) ◽  
pp. 3013-3028 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Levilliers ◽  
A. Fleury ◽  
A.M. Hill

Polyclonal (PAT) and monoclonal (AXO 49) antibodies against Paramecium axonemal tubulin were used as probes to reveal tubulin heterogeneity. The location, the nature and the subcellular distribution of the epitopes recognized by these antibodies were, respectively, determined by means of: (i) immunoblotting on peptide maps of Paramecium, sea urchin and quail axonemal tubulins; (ii) immunoblotting on ciliate tubulin fusion peptides generated in E. coli to discriminate antibodies directed against sequential epitopes (reactive) from post-translational ones (non reactive); and (iii) immunofluorescence on Paramecium cells, using throughout an array of antibodies directed against tubulin sequences and post-translational modifications as references. AXO 49 monoclonal antibody and PAT serum were both shown to recognize epitopes located near the carboxyl-terminal end of both subunits of Paramecium axonemal tubulin, whereas the latter recognized additional epitopes in alpha-tubulin; AXO 49 and a fraction of the PAT serum proved to be unreactive over fusion proteins; both PAT and AXO 49 labelled a restricted population of very stable microtubules in Paramecium, consisting of axonemal and cortical ones, and their reactivity was sequentially detected following microtubule assembly; finally, both antibodies stained two upward spread bands in Paramecium axonemal tubulin separated by SDS-PAGE, indicating the recognition of various alpha- and beta-tubulin isoforms displaying different apparent molecular masses. These data, taken as a whole, definitely establish that PAT and AXO 49 recognize a post-translational modification occurring in axonemal microtubules of protozoa as of metazoa. This modification appears to be distinct from the previously known ones, and all the presently available evidence indicates that it corresponds to the very recently discovered polyglycylation of Paramecium axonemal alpha- and beta-tubulin.


1983 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 1070-1076
Author(s):  
S M Landfear ◽  
D McMahon-Pratt ◽  
D F Wirth

The arrangement of developmentally regulated alpha- and beta-tubulin genes has been studied in the parasitic protozoan Leishmania enriettii by using Southern blot hybridization analysis. The alpha-tubulin genes occur in a tandem repeat whose monomeric unit may be represented by a 2-kilobase PstI fragment. Similarly, the beta-tubulin genes probably occur in a separate tandem repeat consisting of approximately 4-kilobase units unlinked to the alpha-tubulin repeats.


1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1049-1059
Author(s):  
D Burke ◽  
P Gasdaska ◽  
L Hartwell

The consequences of altering the levels of alpha- and beta-tubulin in Saccharomyces cerevisiae were examined by constructing fusions of the structural genes encoding the tubulins to strong galactose-inducible promoters. Overexpression of beta-tubulin (TUB2) was lethal: cells arrested in the G2 stage of the cell cycle exhibited an increased frequency of chromosome loss, were devoid of microtubules, and accumulated beta-tubulin in a novel structure. Overexpression of the major alpha-tubulin gene (TUB1) was not lethal and did not affect chromosome segregation. The rate of alpha-tubulin mRNA and protein synthesis was increased, but the protein did not accumulate. Overexpression of both alpha- and beta-tubulin together resulted in arrested cell division, and cells accumulated excess tubules that contained both alpha- and beta-tubulin. Transient overexpression of both tubulins resulted in a high frequency of chromosome loss. These data suggest that strong selective pressure exists to prevent excess accumulation of microtubules or beta-tubulin and suggest a model by which this goal may be achieved by selective degradation of unassembled alpha-tubulin. Furthermore, the phenotype of beta-tubulin overexpression is similar to the phenotype of a beta-tubulin deficiency. These results add to a number of recent studies demonstrating that mutant phenotypes generated by overexpression can be informative about the function of the gene product.


1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 2042-2049
Author(s):  
G S Harris ◽  
E J Keath ◽  
J Medoff

Recent investigations have confirmed the presence of one alpha-tubulin gene (TUB1) and one beta-tubulin gene (TUB2) in the dimorphic fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. In the present study, Northern blot (RNA blot) analyses revealed multiple alpha-tubulin transcripts and a single beta-tubulin transcript in the yeast and mycelial phases of the high-virulence 217B strain and low-virulence Downs strain. S1 nuclease protection assays demonstrated one initiation start site and two major stop sites for the TUB1 transcripts, suggesting that variations in 3' processing generate the alpha-tubulin messages of 2.5 and 2.0 kilobases. Dot blot hybridization experiments indicated that tubulin gene expression is developmentally regulated during the dimorphic phase transitions. alpha- and beta-tubulin mRNAs increased six- to eightfold during the yeast-to-mycelium conversion and decreased two- to threefold during the reverse transition. These changes in tubulin mRNA content coincided with major morphological events associated with H. capsulatum development. Western blots (immunoblots) of H. capsulatum yeast-specific proteins resolved by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis demonstrated a single alpha- and a single beta-tubulin isoform. Multiple tubulin polypeptides expressed in mycelia are probably products of posttranslational modifications.


1984 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-434
Author(s):  
J A Schloss ◽  
C D Silflow ◽  
J L Rosenbaum

Flagellar amputation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii induces the accumulation of a specific set of RNAs, many of which encode flagellar proteins. We prepared a cDNA clone bank from RNA isolated from cells undergoing flagellar regeneration. From this bank, we selected clones that contain RNA sequences that display several different patterns of abundance regulation. Based on quantitation of the relative amounts of labeled, cloned cDNAs hybridizing to dots of RNA on nitrocellulose filters, the cloned sequences were divided into five regulatory classes: class I RNAs remain at constant abundance during flagellar regeneration; classes II, III, and IV begin to increase in abundance within a few minutes after deflagellation, reach maximal abundance at successively later times during regeneration, and return to control cell levels within 2 to 3 h; and class V RNA abundance decreases during flagellar regeneration. Alpha- and beta-tubulin mRNAs are included in regulatory class IV. The abundance kinetics of alpha-tubulin mRNAs differ slightly from those of beta-tubulin mRNAs. The availability of these clones makes possible studies on the mechanisms controlling the abundance of a wide variety of different RNA species during flagellar regeneration in Chlamydomonas.


1984 ◽  
Vol 247 (1) ◽  
pp. C61-C73 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. Goodman ◽  
I. S. Zagon ◽  
C. F. Whitfield ◽  
L. A. Casoria ◽  
S. B. Shohet ◽  
...  

A mouse brain spectrin-like protein, which was an immunoreactive analogue of erythrocyte spectrin, has been isolated from demyelinated membranes. This spectrin analogue was a 10.5 S, 972,000 molecular weight (Mr) (alpha beta)2 tetramer containing subunits of 240,000 (alpha) and 235,000 (beta) Mr. We demonstrated that in vivo only the 235,000 Mr beta subunit of the mouse brain spectrin-like protein was phosphorylated, which was an analogous situation to mouse erythrocyte spectrin in which only the 220,000 Mr beta subunit was phosphorylated. Incubation of isolated membrane fractions with [gamma-32P]ATP +/- adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) indicated that mouse brain spectrin-like protein, mouse erythrocyte spectrin, and human erythrocyte spectrin's beta subunits were all phosphorylated in vitro by membrane-associated cAMP-independent protein kinases.


1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 875-884 ◽  
Author(s):  
T S Hays ◽  
R Deuring ◽  
B Robertson ◽  
M Prout ◽  
M T Fuller

In this paper we demonstrate that failure to complement between mutations at separate loci can be used to identify genes that encode interacting structural proteins. A mutation (nc33) identified because it failed to complement mutant alleles of the gene encoding the testis-specific beta 2-tubulin of Drosophila melanogaster (B2t) did not map to the B2t locus. We show that this second-site noncomplementing mutation is a missense mutation in alpha-tubulin that results in substitution of methionine in place of valine at amino acid 177. Because alpha- and beta-tubulin form a heterodimer, our results suggest that the genetic interaction, failure to complement, is based on the structural interaction between the protein products of the two genes. Although the nc33 mutation failed to complement a null allele of B2t (B2tn), a deletion of the alpha-tubulin gene to which nc33 mapped complemented B2tn. Thus, the failure to complement appears to require the presence of the altered alpha-tubulin encoded by the nc33 allele, which may act as a structural poison when incorporated into either the tubulin heterodimer or microtubules.


1983 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 1070-1076 ◽  
Author(s):  
S M Landfear ◽  
D McMahon-Pratt ◽  
D F Wirth

The arrangement of developmentally regulated alpha- and beta-tubulin genes has been studied in the parasitic protozoan Leishmania enriettii by using Southern blot hybridization analysis. The alpha-tubulin genes occur in a tandem repeat whose monomeric unit may be represented by a 2-kilobase PstI fragment. Similarly, the beta-tubulin genes probably occur in a separate tandem repeat consisting of approximately 4-kilobase units unlinked to the alpha-tubulin repeats.


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