Tubulin evolution: an electrophoretic and immunological analysis

Microtubule dynamics investigated by microinjection of Paramecium axonemal tubulin: lack of nucleation but proximal assembly of microtubules at the kinetochore during prometaphase

Microtubule (MT) dynamics in PtK2 cells have been investigated using in vivo injection of unmodified Paramecium ciliary tubulin and time-lapse fixation. The sites of incorporation of the axonemal tubulin were localized using a specific antibody which does not react with vertebrate cytoplasmic tubulin (Adoutte, A., M. Claisse, R. Maunoury, and J. Beisson. 1985. J. Mol. Evol. 22:220-229), followed by immunogold labeling, Nanovid microscopy, and ultrastructural observation of the same cells. We confirm data from microinjection of labeled tubulins in other cell types (Soltys, B. J., and G. G. Borisy. 1985. J. Cell Biol. 100:1682-1689; Mitchison, T., L. Evans, E. Schulze, and M. Kirschner. 1986. Cell. 45:515-527; Schulze, E., and M. Kirschner. 1986. J. Cell Biol. 102:1020-1031). In agreement with the dynamic instability model (Mitchison, T., and M. Kirschner. 1984. Nature (Lond.). 312:237-242), during interphase, fast (2.6 microns/min) distal growth of MTs occurs, together with new centrosomal nucleation. Most of the cytoplasmic MT complex is replaced within 15-30 min. During mitosis, astral MTs display the same pattern of renewal, but the turnover of the MT system is much faster (approximately 6 min). We have concentrated on the construction of the kinetochore fibers during prometaphase and observe that (a) incorporation of tubulin in the vicinity of the kinetochores is not seen during prophase and early prometaphase as long as the kinetochores are not yet connected to a pole by MTs; (b) proximal time-dependent incorporation occurs only into preexisting kinetochore MTs emanating from centrosomes. Consequently, in undisturbed prometaphase cells, the kinetochores probably do not act as independent nucleation sites. This confirms a model in which, at prometaphase, fast probing centrosomal MTs are grabbed by the kinetochores, where tubulin incorporation then takes place.

Sequence of one alpha- and two beta-tubulin genes of Tetrahymena pyriformis. Structural and functional relationships with other eukaryotic tubulin genes

Macronuclear DNA of the ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis contains only one size class of fragments coding for alpha-tubulin, alpha TT. We have isolated alpha TT from a partial plasmid library, using Chlamydomonas reinhardtii alpha-tubulin gene as a probe. This gene as well as the two beta-tubulin genes, beta TT1 and beta TT2, have been sequenced. None of these genes contains introns and all use TGA as the stop codon. In the coding region of the two beta-tubulin genes, there are several TAA and TAG stop codons that probably code for glutamine. The codon usage is very biased. Regions flanking the tubulin coding sequences are A + T-rich (75%) and quite different among themselves. In these regions there are several putative transcription-regulatory sequences. Nuclear transcripts begin and terminate at multiple sites. The beta-tubulin proteins differ only in two amino acid residues. Primary structure of Tetrahymena tubulins as well as their hydropathy indexes show a high degree of homology with tubulins from other organisms. Two-dimensional electrophoretic analysis of the ciliary tubulins shows the presence of eight alpha-tubulins and four beta-tubulins. The alpha-tubulins migrate faster than the beta-tubulins, in contrast with what happens with brain tubulins. We suggest that there are several alpha- and beta-tubulin isoforms and the migratory inversion observed may be due to post-translational modifications.

Probing protistan phylogenies with an anti-tubulin antibody

Representatives from most of the protist phyla were probed by immunofluorescence or by immunoblotting with an anti-tubulin antibody of sharp specificity previously raised against Paramecium axonemal tubulin. Excellent intra-phylum homogeneity of results was recorded except for chlorophytes. All ciliates, dinoflagellates and cryptomonads tested were strongly positive while actinopods, Euglenozoa and parabasalids were negative. All representatives of the broad chromophyte assemblage were positive while all rhizopods were negative. This simple binary immunological character was superimposed on a number of published protist phylogenies and seen to fit very well with some of them. Other immunological approaches to protist taxonomy and evolution are briefly reviewed.

Tubulin evolution: ciliate-specific epitopes are conserved in the ciliary tubulin of Metazoa

In spite of their overall evolutionary conservation, the tubulins of ciliates display electrophoretic and structural particularities. We show here that antibodies raised against Paramecium and Tetrahymena ciliary tubulins fail to recognize the cytoplasmic tubulins of all the metazoans tested. Immunoblotting of peptide maps of ciliate tubulins reveals that these antibodies react with one or very few ciliate-specific epitopes, in contrast to polyclonal antibodies against vertebrate tubulins, which are equivalent to autoantibodies and recognize several epitopes in both ciliate and vertebrate tubulins. Furthermore, we show that the anti-ciliate antibodies recognize ciliary and flagellar tubulins of metazoans ranging from sea urchin to mammals (with the exception of humans). The results support the conclusion that although duplication and specialization of tubulin genes in metazoans may have led to distinct types of tubulins, the axonemal one has remained highly conserved.

A microtubule-associated protein (MAP1) which is expressed at elevated levels during development of the rat cerebellum

Monoclonal antibody (MAb) G10 labels a single high mol. wt. (HMW) band on Western blots of microtubule preparations from 2 day old rat brain. The G10 antigen is thermolabile and co-migrates with microtubule-associated protein (MAP)1 from young rat brain on low percentage (5%) polyacrylamide-SDS gels. The G10 antigen decreases by about five times from birth to adulthood in the rat cerebellum. The same single band is labelled on Western blots of homogenates of whole neonatal rat brain but no labelling is found using neonatal or adult kidney, lung or liver. We have therefore identified a brain-specific MAP1, designated MAP1(x). Immunofluorescence microscopy using MAb G10 on parasagittal sections of rat cerebella shows labelling of the newly formed molecular layer in 6 day old rats. Only a narrow band close to the pial surface is labelled in 18 day old animals, which disappears in the adult. Labelling of the cerebellar white matter found in young rats also disappears. Neurones but not flat cells in cerebellar cultures label with MAb G10. All staining patterns are consistent with an axonal distribution of the antigen. MAP1(x) may be part of a developmentally regulated microtubule structure.