Ruiz F, Dupuis-Williams P, Klotz C, Forquignon F, Bergdoll M, Beisson J, Koll F. Genetic evidence for interaction between eta- and beta-tubulins.
EUKARYOTIC CELL 2004;
3:212-20. [PMID:
14871951 PMCID:
PMC329518 DOI:
10.1128/ec.3.1.212-220.2004]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The thermosensitive allelic mutations sm19-1 and sm19-2 of Paramecium tetraurelia cause defective basal body duplication: growth at the nonpermissive temperature yields smaller and smaller cells with fewer and fewer basal bodies. Complementation cloning of the SM19 gene identified a new tubulin, eta-tubulin, showing low homology with each of the other five tubulins, alpha to epsilon, characterized in P. tetraurelia. In order to analyze eta-tubulin functions, we used a genetic approach to identify interacting molecules. Among a series of extragenic suppressors of the sm19-1 mutation, the su3-1 mutation was characterized as an E288K substitution in the beta-PT2 gene coding for a beta-tubulin, while the mutation nocr1 conferring nocodazole resistance and localized in another beta-tubulin gene, beta-PT3, was shown to enhance the mutant phenotype. The interaction between eta-tubulin and microtubules, revealed by genetic data, is supported by two further types of evidence: first, the mutant phenotype is rescued by taxol, which stabilizes microtubules; second, molecular modeling suggests that eta-tubulin, like gamma- and delta-tubulins, might be a microtubule minus-end capping molecule. The likely function of eta-tubulin as part of a complex specifically involved in basal body biogenesis is discussed.
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