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Microtubules containing detyrosinated tubulin are less dynamic.
Author(s) -
Kreis T. E.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02550.x
Subject(s) - tubulin , microtubule , nocodazole , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , cytoskeleton , cell
Peptide antibodies specific for tyrosinated (tyr‐tubulin) or detyrosinated alpha‐tubulin (glu‐tubulin) have been generated for studying the relative stability of microtubules enriched in either form of alpha‐tubulin. Treatment of Vero cells with nocodazole has revealed that interphase microtubules rich in glu‐tubulin (glu‐microtubules) are resistant to higher concentrations of the microtubule‐disrupting drug than the microtubules containing only tyr‐tubulin (tyr‐microtubules). Glu‐tubulin is enriched in centrioles and mid‐bodies, but absent from the first interphase microtubules that have repolymerized in late telophase. Tubulin (including both forms) has been labeled with rhodamine (rh‐tubulin) and microinjected into Vero cells to study in vivo the dynamic properties and incorporation rates of tubulin into microtubules rich in either glu‐ or tyr‐tubulin. Tyr‐microtubules are significantly more rapidly labeled by the microinjected rh‐tubulin than glu‐microtubules. Ten minutes after injection, rh‐tubulin is present in virtually all tyr‐microtubules. The half‐time of turnover of glu‐microtubules is approximately 1 h. Even several hours after microinjection, some of the glu‐microtubules have consistently not incorporated visible amounts of rh‐tubulin. These results suggest that tyr‐ and glu‐microtubules respectively represent relatively dynamic and stable subclasses of interphase microtubules.