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Nelson AC, Rolls MM, Ciocanel MV, McKinley SA. Minimal Mechanisms of Microtubule Length Regulation in Living Cells. Bull Math Biol 2024; 86:58. [PMID: 38627264 DOI: 10.1007/s11538-024-01279-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2023] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
The microtubule cytoskeleton is responsible for sustained, long-range intracellular transport of mRNAs, proteins, and organelles in neurons. Neuronal microtubules must be stable enough to ensure reliable transport, but they also undergo dynamic instability, as their plus and minus ends continuously switch between growth and shrinking. This process allows for continuous rebuilding of the cytoskeleton and for flexibility in injury settings. Motivated by in vivo experimental data on microtubule behavior in Drosophila neurons, we propose a mathematical model of dendritic microtubule dynamics, with a focus on understanding microtubule length, velocity, and state-duration distributions. We find that limitations on microtubule growth phases are needed for realistic dynamics, but the type of limiting mechanism leads to qualitatively different responses to plausible experimental perturbations. We therefore propose and investigate two minimally-complex length-limiting factors: limitation due to resource (tubulin) constraints and limitation due to catastrophe of large-length microtubules. We combine simulations of a detailed stochastic model with steady-state analysis of a mean-field ordinary differential equations model to map out qualitatively distinct parameter regimes. This provides a basis for predicting changes in microtubule dynamics, tubulin allocation, and the turnover rate of tubulin within microtubules in different experimental environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna C Nelson
- Department of Mathematics, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27710, USA.
| | - Melissa M Rolls
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, 16801, USA
| | - Maria-Veronica Ciocanel
- Department of Mathematics, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27710, USA
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27710, USA
| | - Scott A McKinley
- Department of Mathematics, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA
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2
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Zheng J, Mallon J, Lammers A, Rados T, Litschel T, Moody ERR, Ramirez-Diaz DA, Schmid A, Williams TA, Bisson-Filho AW, Garner E. Salactin, a dynamically unstable actin homolog in Haloarchaea. mBio 2023; 14:e0227223. [PMID: 37966230 PMCID: PMC10746226 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02272-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
IMPORTANCE Protein filaments play important roles in many biological processes. We discovered an actin homolog in halophilic archaea, which we call Salactin. Just like the filaments that segregate DNA in eukaryotes, Salactin grows out of the cell poles towards the middle, and then quickly depolymerizes, a behavior known as dynamic instability. Furthermore, we see that Salactin affects the distribution of DNA in daughter cells when cells are grown in low-phosphate media, suggesting Salactin filaments might be involved in segregating DNA when the cell has only a few copies of the chromosome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jenny Zheng
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - John Mallon
- Department of Biology, Rosenstiel Basic Medical Science Research Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Alex Lammers
- Physiology Course, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Biological Design Center, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Theopi Rados
- Department of Biology, Rosenstiel Basic Medical Science Research Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Thomas Litschel
- Physiology Course, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Edmund R. R. Moody
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Diego A. Ramirez-Diaz
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Amy Schmid
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
- Center for Genomics and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
| | - Tom A. Williams
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Alexandre W. Bisson-Filho
- Department of Biology, Rosenstiel Basic Medical Science Research Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Ethan Garner
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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3
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Jentoft IMA, Bäuerlein FJB, Welp LM, Cooper BH, Petrovic A, So C, Penir SM, Politi AZ, Horokhovskyi Y, Takala I, Eckel H, Moltrecht R, Lénárt P, Cavazza T, Liepe J, Brose N, Urlaub H, Fernández-Busnadiego R, Schuh M. Mammalian oocytes store proteins for the early embryo on cytoplasmic lattices. Cell 2023; 186:5308-5327.e25. [PMID: 37922900 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Revised: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
Mammalian oocytes are filled with poorly understood structures called cytoplasmic lattices. First discovered in the 1960s and speculated to correspond to mammalian yolk, ribosomal arrays, or intermediate filaments, their function has remained enigmatic to date. Here, we show that cytoplasmic lattices are sites where oocytes store essential proteins for early embryonic development. Using super-resolution light microscopy and cryoelectron tomography, we show that cytoplasmic lattices are composed of filaments with a high surface area, which contain PADI6 and subcortical maternal complex proteins. The lattices associate with many proteins critical for embryonic development, including proteins that control epigenetic reprogramming of the preimplantation embryo. Loss of cytoplasmic lattices by knocking out PADI6 or the subcortical maternal complex prevents the accumulation of these proteins and results in early embryonic arrest. Our work suggests that cytoplasmic lattices enrich maternally provided proteins to prevent their premature degradation and cellular activity, thereby enabling early mammalian development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ida M A Jentoft
- Department of Meiosis, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Felix J B Bäuerlein
- Institute for Neuropathology, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: from Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells" (MBExC), University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Luisa M Welp
- Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Group, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Institute of Clinical Chemistry, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Benjamin H Cooper
- Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Arsen Petrovic
- Institute for Neuropathology, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: from Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells" (MBExC), University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Chun So
- Department of Meiosis, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Sarah Mae Penir
- Department of Meiosis, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Antonio Z Politi
- Facility for Light Microscopy, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Yehor Horokhovskyi
- Quantitative and Systems Biology Group, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Iina Takala
- Quantitative and Systems Biology Group, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Heike Eckel
- Kinderwunschzentrum Göttingen, 37081 Göttingen, Germany
| | | | - Peter Lénárt
- Facility for Light Microscopy, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Tommaso Cavazza
- Department of Meiosis, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Juliane Liepe
- Quantitative and Systems Biology Group, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Nils Brose
- Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: from Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells" (MBExC), University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Henning Urlaub
- Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: from Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells" (MBExC), University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Group, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Institute of Clinical Chemistry, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany; Göttingen Center for Molecular Biosciences, Georg-August University Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Rubén Fernández-Busnadiego
- Institute for Neuropathology, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: from Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells" (MBExC), University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Faculty of Physics, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Melina Schuh
- Department of Meiosis, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: from Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells" (MBExC), University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
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4
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Wethekam LC, Moore JK. Tubulin isotype regulation maintains asymmetric requirement for α-tubulin over β-tubulin. J Cell Biol 2023; 222:e202202102. [PMID: 36719400 PMCID: PMC9930134 DOI: 10.1083/jcb.202202102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2022] [Revised: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
How cells regulate α- and β-tubulin to meet the demand for αβ-heterodimers and avoid consequences of monomer imbalance is not understood. We investigate the role of gene copy number and how shifting expression of α- or β-tubulin genes impacts tubulin proteostasis and microtubule function in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We find that α-tubulin gene copy number is important for maintaining excess α-tubulin protein compared to β-tubulin protein. Excess α-tubulin prevents accumulation of super-stoichiometric β-tubulin, which leads to loss of microtubules, formation of non-microtubule assemblies of tubulin, and disrupts cell proliferation. In contrast, sub-stoichiometric β-tubulin or overexpression of α-tubulin has minor effects. We provide evidence that yeast cells equilibrate α-tubulin protein concentration when α-tubulin isotype expression is increased. We propose an asymmetric relationship between α- and β-tubulins, in which α-tubulins are maintained in excess to supply αβ-heterodimers and limit the accumulation of β-tubulin monomers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linnea C. Wethekam
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Jeffrey K. Moore
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
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5
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Luchniak A, Kuo YW, McGuinness C, Sutradhar S, Orbach R, Mahamdeh M, Howard J. Dynamic microtubules slow down during their shrinkage phase. Biophys J 2023; 122:616-623. [PMID: 36659852 PMCID: PMC9989939 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2023.01.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Revised: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Microtubules are dynamic polymers that undergo stochastic transitions between growing and shrinking phases. The structural and chemical properties of these phases remain poorly understood. The transition from growth to shrinkage, termed catastrophe, is not a first-order reaction but rather a multistep process whose frequency increases with the growth time: the microtubule ages as the older microtubule tip becomes more unstable. Aging shows that the growing phase is not a single state but comprises several substates of increasing instability. To investigate whether the shrinking phase is also multistate, we characterized the kinetics of microtubule shrinkage following catastrophe using an in vitro reconstitution assay with purified tubulins. We found that the shrinkage speed is highly variable across microtubules and that the shrinkage speed of individual microtubules slows down over time by as much as several fold. The shrinkage slowdown was observed in both fluorescently labeled and unlabeled microtubules as well as in microtubules polymerized from tubulin purified from different species, suggesting that the shrinkage slowdown is a general property of microtubules. These results indicate that microtubule shrinkage, like catastrophe, is time dependent and that the shrinking microtubule tip passes through a succession of states of increasing stability. We hypothesize that the shrinkage slowdown is due to destabilizing events that took place during growth, which led to multistep catastrophe. This suggests that the aging associated with growth is also manifested during shrinkage, with the older, more unstable growing tip being associated with a faster depolymerizing shrinking tip.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Luchniak
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Yin-Wei Kuo
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Catherine McGuinness
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Sabyasachi Sutradhar
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Ron Orbach
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Mohammed Mahamdeh
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Jonathon Howard
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
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6
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Dieterle PB, Zheng J, Garner E, Amir A. Universal catastrophe time distributions of dynamically unstable polymers. Phys Rev E 2022; 105:064503. [PMID: 35854610 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.105.064503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Dynamic instability-the growth, catastrophe, and shrinkage of quasi-one-dimensional filaments-has been observed in multiple biopolymers. Scientists have long understood the catastrophic cessation of growth and subsequent depolymerization as arising from the interplay of hydrolysis and polymerization at the tip of the polymer. Here we show that for a broad class of catastrophe models, the expected catastrophe time distribution is exponential. We show that the distribution shape is insensitive to noise, but that depletion of monomers from a finite pool can dramatically change the distribution shape by reducing the polymerization rate. We derive a form for this finite-pool catastrophe time distribution and show that finite-pool effects can be important even when the depletion of monomers does not greatly alter the polymerization rate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul B Dieterle
- Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
| | - Jenny Zheng
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
| | - Ethan Garner
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
| | - Ariel Amir
- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
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7
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Jain K, Basu J, Roy M, Yadav J, Patil S, Athale CA. Polymerization kinetics of tubulin from mung seedlings modeled as a competition between nucleation and GTP-hydrolysis rates. Cytoskeleton (Hoboken) 2022; 78:436-447. [PMID: 35233933 DOI: 10.1002/cm.21694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2021] [Revised: 02/10/2022] [Accepted: 02/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Microtubules (MTs) form physiologically important cytoskeletal structures that assemble by tubulin polymerization in a nucleation- and GTP-dependent manner. GTP-hydrolysis competes with the addition of monomers, to determine the GTP-cap size, and onset of shrinkage, which alternates with growth. Multiple theoretical models of MT polymerization dynamics have been reconciled to the kinetics of animal brain tubulins, but more recently rapid kinetics seen in Arabidopsis tubulin polymerization suggest the need to sample a wider diversity in tubulin polymerization kinetics and reconcile it to theory. Here, we have isolated tubulin from seedlings of Vigna sp. (mung bean), compared polymerization kinetics to animal brain tubulin and used a computational model to understand the di_erences. We _nd that activity isolated mung tubulin polymerizes in a nucleation-dependent manner, based on turbidimetry, qualitatively similar to brain tubulin, but with a ten-fold smaller critical critical concentration. GTP-dependent polymerization kinetics also appear to be transient, indicative of high rates of GTP-hydrolysis. Computational modeling of tubulin nucleation and vectorial GTP-hydrolysis to examine the e_ect of high nucleation and GTP-hydrolysis rates predicts a dominance of the latter in determining MT lengths and numbers. Microscopy of mung tubulin _laments stabilized by GMPCPP or taxol result in few and short MTs, compared to the many long MTs arising from goat tubulin, qualitatively matching the model predictions. We _nd GTP-hydrolysis outcompetes nucleation rates in determining MT lengths and numbers. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kunalika Jain
- Division of Biology, IISER Pune, Pune, Maharashtra, India
| | - Jashaswi Basu
- Division of Biology, IISER Pune, Pune, Maharashtra, India
| | - Megha Roy
- Division of Biology, IISER Pune, Pune, Maharashtra, India
| | - Jyoti Yadav
- Department of Chemistry, IISER Pune, Pune, Maharashtra, India
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8
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Mahserejian SM, Scripture JP, Mauro AJ, Lawrence EJ, Jonasson EM, Murray KS, Li J, Gardner M, Alber M, Zanic M, Goodson HV. Quantification of Microtubule Stutters: Dynamic Instability Behaviors that are Strongly Associated with Catastrophe. Mol Biol Cell 2022; 33:ar22. [PMID: 35108073 PMCID: PMC9250389 DOI: 10.1091/mbc.e20-06-0348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Microtubules (MTs) are cytoskeletal fibers that undergo dynamic instability (DI), a remarkable process involving phases of growth and shortening separated by stochastic transitions called catastrophe and rescue. Dissecting DI mechanism(s) requires first characterizing and quantifying these dynamics, a subjective process that often ignores complexity in MT behavior. We present a Statistical Tool for Automated Dynamic Instability Analysis (STADIA) that identifies and quantifies not only growth and shortening, but also a category of intermediate behaviors that we term “stutters.” During stutters, the rate of MT length change tends to be smaller in magnitude than during typical growth or shortening phases. Quantifying stutters and other behaviors with STADIA demonstrates that stutters precede most catastrophes in our in vitro experiments and dimer-scale MT simulations, suggesting that stutters are mechanistically involved in catastrophes. Related to this idea, we show that the anticatastrophe factor CLASP2γ works by promoting the return of stuttering MTs to growth. STADIA enables more comprehensive and data-driven analysis of MT dynamics compared with previous methods. The treatment of stutters as distinct and quantifiable DI behaviors provides new opportunities for analyzing mechanisms of MT dynamics and their regulation by binding proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shant M Mahserejian
- Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556.,Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352
| | - Jared P Scripture
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556
| | - Ava J Mauro
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556.,Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA, 01003
| | - Elizabeth J Lawrence
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240
| | - Erin M Jonasson
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556.,Department of Natural Sciences, Saint Martin's University, Lacey, WA 98503
| | - Kristopher S Murray
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556
| | - Jun Li
- Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556
| | - Melissa Gardner
- Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
| | - Mark Alber
- Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556.,Department of Mathematics, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
| | - Marija Zanic
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240.,Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235.,Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37205
| | - Holly V Goodson
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556
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9
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Effects of random hydrolysis on biofilament length distributions in a shared subunit pool. Biophys J 2022; 121:502-514. [PMID: 34954156 PMCID: PMC8822617 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2021.12.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2020] [Revised: 08/15/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The sizes of filamentous structures in a cell are often regulated for many physiological processes. A key question in cell biology is how such size control is achieved. Here, we theoretically study the length distributions of multiple filaments, growing by stochastic assembly and disassembly of subunits from a limiting subunit pool. Importantly, we consider a chemical switching of subunits (hydrolysis) prevalent in many biofilaments like microtubules (MTs). We show by simulations of different models that hydrolysis leads to a skewed unimodal length distribution for a single MT. In contrast, hydrolysis can lead to bimodal distributions of individual lengths for two MTs, where individual filaments toggle stochastically between bigger and smaller sizes. For more than two MTs, length distributions are also bimodal, although the bimodality becomes less prominent. We further show that this collective phenomenon is connected with the nonequilibrium nature of hydrolysis, and the bimodality disappears for reversible dynamics. Consistent with earlier theoretical studies, a homogeneous subunit pool, without hydrolysis, cannot control filament lengths. We thus elucidate the role of hydrolysis as a control mechanism on MT length diversity.
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10
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Böhler A, Vermeulen BJA, Würtz M, Zupa E, Pfeffer S, Schiebel E. The gamma-tubulin ring complex: Deciphering the molecular organization and assembly mechanism of a major vertebrate microtubule nucleator. Bioessays 2021; 43:e2100114. [PMID: 34160844 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202100114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2021] [Revised: 06/07/2021] [Accepted: 06/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Microtubules are protein cylinders with functions in cell motility, signal sensing, cell organization, intracellular transport, and chromosome segregation. One of the key properties of microtubules is their dynamic architecture, allowing them to grow and shrink in length by adding or removing copies of their basic subunit, the heterodimer αβ-tubulin. In higher eukaryotes, de novo assembly of microtubules from αβ-tubulin is initiated by a 2 MDa multi-subunit complex, the gamma-tubulin ring complex (γ-TuRC). For many years, the structure of the γ-TuRC and the function of its subunits remained enigmatic, although structural data from the much simpler yeast counterpart, the γ-tubulin small complex (γ-TuSC), were available. Two recent breakthroughs in the field, high-resolution structural analysis and recombinant reconstitution of the complex, have revolutionized our knowledge about the architecture and function of the γ-TuRC and will form the basis for addressing outstanding questions about biogenesis and regulation of this essential microtubule organizer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Böhler
- Zentrum für Molekulare Biologie der Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Bram J A Vermeulen
- Zentrum für Molekulare Biologie der Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Martin Würtz
- Zentrum für Molekulare Biologie der Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Erik Zupa
- Zentrum für Molekulare Biologie der Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Stefan Pfeffer
- Zentrum für Molekulare Biologie der Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Elmar Schiebel
- Zentrum für Molekulare Biologie der Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
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11
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Abstract
Microtubules are dynamic cytoskeletal filaments composed of αβ-tubulin heterodimers. Historically, the dynamics of single tubulin interactions at the growing microtubule tip have been inferred from steady-state growth kinetics. However, recent advances in the production of recombinant tubulin and in high-resolution optical and cryo-electron microscopies have opened new windows into understanding the impacts of specific intermolecular interactions during growth. The microtubule lattice is held together by lateral and longitudinal tubulin-tubulin interactions, and these interactions are in turn regulated by the GTP hydrolysis state of the tubulin heterodimer. Furthermore, tubulin can exist in either an extended or a compacted state in the lattice. Growing evidence has led to the suggestion that binding of microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) or motors can induce changes in tubulin conformation and that this information can be communicated through the microtubule lattice. Progress in understanding how dynamic tubulin-tubulin interactions control dynamic instability has benefitted from visualizing structures of growing microtubule plus ends and through stochastic biochemical models constrained by experimental data. Here, we review recent insights into the molecular basis of microtubule growth and discuss how MAPs and regulatory proteins alter tubulin-tubulin interactions to exert their effects on microtubule growth and stability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph M Cleary
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - William O Hancock
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
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12
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Kuo YW, Howard J. Cutting, Amplifying, and Aligning Microtubules with Severing Enzymes. Trends Cell Biol 2020; 31:50-61. [PMID: 33183955 PMCID: PMC7749064 DOI: 10.1016/j.tcb.2020.10.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Revised: 10/12/2020] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Microtubule-severing enzymes - katanin, spastin, fidgetin - are related AAA-ATPases that cut microtubules into shorter filaments. These proteins, also called severases, are involved in a wide range of cellular processes including cell division, neuronal development, and tissue morphogenesis. Paradoxically, severases can amplify the microtubule cytoskeleton and not just destroy it. Recent work on spastin and katanin has partially resolved this paradox by showing that these enzymes are strong promoters of microtubule growth. Here, we review recent structural and biophysical advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms of severing and growth promotion that provide insight into how severing enzymes shape microtubule networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yin-Wei Kuo
- Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Jonathon Howard
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
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