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Cosolvent and Crowding Effects on the Temperature‐ and Pressure‐Dependent Dissociation Process of the α/β‐Tubulin Heterodimer
Author(s) -
Schummel Paul Hendrik,
Anders Christian,
Jaworek Michel W.,
Winter Roland
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.201900115
Subject(s) - chemistry , tubulin , dissociation (chemistry) , differential scanning calorimetry , biophysics , microtubule , fluorescence anisotropy , supercooling , fluorescence , organic chemistry , thermodynamics , biochemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , membrane , biology , microbiology and biotechnology
Tubulin is one of the main components of the cytoskeleton of eukaryotic cells. The formation of microtubules depends strongly on environmental and solution conditions, and has been found to be among the most pressure sensitive processes in vivo . We explored the effects of different types of cosolvents, such as trimethylamine‐ N ‐oxide (TMAO), sucrose and urea, and crowding agents to mimic cell‐like conditions, on the temperature and pressure stability of the building block of microtubules, i. e. the α/β‐tubulin heterodimer. To this end, fluorescence and FTIR spectroscopy, differential scanning and pressure perturbation calorimetry as well as fluorescence anisotropy and correlation spectroscopies were applied. The pressure and temperature of dissociation of α/β‐tubulin as well as the underlying thermodynamic parameters upon dissociation, such as volume and enthalpy changes, have been determined for the different solution conditions. The temperature and pressure of dissociation of the α/β‐tubulin heterodimer and hence its stability increases dramatically in the presence of TMAO and the nanocrowder sucrose. We show that by adjusting the levels of compatible cosolutes and crowders, cells are able to withstand deteriorating effects of pressure even up to the kbar‐range.