Lattice structure of cytoplasmic microtubules in a cultured Mammalian cell

J Mol Biol. 2009 Nov 27;394(2):177-82. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2009.09.033. Epub 2009 Sep 19.

Abstract

Tubulin can polymerize in two distinct arrangements: "B-lattices," in which the alpha-tubulins of one protofilament lie next to alpha-tubulins in the neighboring protofilaments, or the "A" configuration, where alpha-tubulins lie beside beta-tubulins. Microtubules (MTs) in flagellar axonemes and those assembled from pure tubulin in vitro display only B-lattices, but recent work shows that A-lattices are found when tubulin co-polymerizes in vitro with an allele of end-binding protein 1 that lacks C-terminal sequences. This observation suggests that cytoplasmic MTs, which form in the presence of this "tip-associating protein," may have A-lattices. To test this hypothesis, we have decorated interphase MTs in 3T3 cells with monomeric motor domains from the kinesin-like protein Eg5. These MTs show only B-lattices, as confirmed by visual inspection of electron cryo-tomograms and power spectra of single projection views, imaged at higher electron dose. This result is significant because 13 protofilament MTs with B-lattices must include a "seam," one lateral domain where adjacent dimers are in the A-configuration. It follows that cytoplasmic MTs are not cylindrically symmetric; they have two distinct faces, which may influence the binding patterns of functionally significant MT-interacting proteins.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • 3T3 Cells
  • Animals
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Cytoplasm / ultrastructure*
  • Mice
  • Microtubules / ultrastructure*
  • Tubulin / ultrastructure*

Substances

  • Tubulin