Assembly and turnover of detyrosinated tubulin in vivo

Detyrosinated (Glu) tubulin was prepared from porcine brain and microinjected into human fibroblasts and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Glu tubulin assembled onto the ends of preexisting microtubules and directly from the centrosome within minutes of its microinjection. Incorporation into the cytoskeleton continued until almost all of the microtubules were copolymers of Glu and tyrosinated (Tyr) tubulin. However, further incubation resulted in the progressive and ultimately complete loss of Glu-staining microtubules. Glu tubulin injected into nocodazole-treated cells was converted to Tyr tubulin by a putative tubulin/tyrosine ligase activity. The observed decrease in staining with the Glu antibody over time was used to analyze microtubule turnover in microinjected cells. The mode of Glu disappearance was analyzed quantitatively by tabulating the number of Glu-Tyr copolymers and Tyr-only microtubules at fixed times after injection. The proportion of Glu-Tyr copolymers decreased progressively over time and no segmentally labeled microtubules were observed, indicating that microtubules turn over rapidly and individually. Our results are consistent with a closely regulated tyrosination-detyrosination cycle in living cells and suggest that microtubule turnover is mediated by dynamic instability.     

Microtubule dynamics in vivo: a test of mechanisms of turnover

Clarification of the mechanism of microtubule dynamics requires an analysis of the microtubule pattern at two time points in the same cell with single fiber resolution. Single microtubule resolution was obtained by microinjection of haptenized tubulin (fluorescein-tubulin) and subsequent indirect immunofluorescence with an antifluorescein antibody. The two time points in a single cell were, first, the time of photobleaching fluorescein-tubulin, and second, the time of fixation. The pattern of fluorescence replacement in the bleached zone during this time interval revealed the relevant mechanisms. In fibroblasts, microtubule domains in the bleached zone are replaced microtubule by microtubule and not by mechanisms that affect all microtubules simultaneously. Of the models we consider, treadmilling and subunit exchange along the length do not account for this observation, but dynamic instability can since it suggests that growing and shrinking microtubules coexist. In addition, we show that the half-time for microtubule replacement is shortest at the leading edge. Dynamic instability accounts for this observation if in general microtubules do not catastrophically disassemble from the plus end, but instead have a significant probability of undergoing a transition to the growing phase before they depolymerize completely. This type of instability we call tempered rather than catastrophic because, through limited disassembly followed by regrowth, it will preferentially replace polymer domains at the ends of microtubules, thus accounting for the observation that the half-time of microtubule domain replacement is shorter with proximity to the leading edge.     

Centriole distribution during tripolar mitosis in Chinese hamster ovary cells

During bipolar mitosis a pair of centrioles is distributed to each cell but the activities of the two centrioles within the pair are not equivalent. The parent is normally surrounded by a cloud of pericentriolar material that serves as a microtubule-organizing center. The daughter does not become associated with pericentriolar material until it becomes a parent in the next cell cycle (Rieder, C.L., and G. G. Borisy , 1982, Biol. Cell., 44:117-132). We asked whether the microtubule-organizing activity associated with a centriole was dependent on its becoming a parent. We induced multipolar mitosis in Chinese hamster ovary cells by treatment with 0.04 micrograms/ml colcemid for 4 h. After recovery from this colcemid block, the majority of cells divided into two, but 40% divided into three and 2% divided into four. The tripolar mitotic cells were examined by antitubulin immunofluorescence and by high voltage electron microscopy of serial thick (0.25-micron) sections. The electron microscope analysis showed that centriole number was conserved and that the centrioles were distributed among the three spindle poles, generally in a 2:1:1 or 2:2:0 pattern. The first pattern shows that centriole parenting is not prerequisite for association with pole function; the second pattern indicates that centrioles per se are not required at all. However, the frequency of midbody formation and successful division was higher when centrioles were present in the 2:1:1 pattern. We suggest that the centrioles may help the proper distribution and organization of the pericentriolar cloud, which is needed for the formation of a functional spindle pole.     

Distribution of cytoskeletal proteins sharing a conserved phosphorylated epitope

A group of antigens related by their reactivity with monoclonal antibodies MPM-1 and MPM-2 appear as cells enter mitosis. These antibodies bind to a phosphorylated epitope on certain proteins, and therefore the antigens are presumed to be a group of phosphoproteins. A subset of these proteins has been shown previously to be components of mitotic microtubule organizing centers in PtK1 cells. We present here evidence that the mitosis-specific appearance of these phosphoproteins is a phenomenon common to all eukaryotic cells. The MPM reactive phosphoproteins were localized to mitotic spindle poles regardless of whether the spindle formed in the cytoplasm after nuclear envelope breakdown (open mitosis) or within the nucleus (closed mitosis). This reactivity was not dependent upon the presence of centrioles at the spindle poles. Proteins that contained the phosphorylated epitope were not, however, restricted to mitotic cells. Cells of neuronal derivation and flagellated cells showed specific localization of MPM antibody to the microtubule network and basal bodies respectively. On immunoblots, the MPM antibody reacted with brain MAP-1 among a number of other phosphoproteins. The identification of microtubule-associated protein (MAP)-1 correlates with the localization of the antibody to microtubules of neuroblastoma cells. These results suggest, that different phosphoprotein molecules detected by the MPM antibody may be specific for different mitotic microtubule organizing centers, basal bodies, and other specialized cytoskeletal structures; and the presence of a related phosphorylated domain on these proteins may be important for their proper function and/or interaction with microtubules.     

THE MECHANISM OF ACTION OF COLCHICINE : Binding of Colchincine-3H to Cellular Protein

The majority of the colchicine-³H bound by tissue culture cells (KB or Hela) was found to be present as a noncovalent complex with a macromolecule which appears in the soluble fraction after homogenization. Similar binding was demonstrated in vitro and was confined to a component of the soluble fraction. The binding-equilibrium constant and the kinetic constants were essentially the same in vivo and in vitro. Bound radioactivity was reisolated and shown to be present in a molecule with the same chromatographic behavior and specific antimitotic activity as colchicine. In vitro assay of binding activity of a variety of cells and tissues showed a correlation with the presence of microtubules. High binding activity was given by dividing cells, mitotic apparatus, cilia, sperm tails, and brain tissue. Binding to extracts of slime mold or to purified muscle proteins was very low or undetectable. The binding site had a sedimentation constant of 6S and it is suggested that the protein is a subunit of microtubules.     

The pericentriolar material in Chinese hamster ovary cells nucleates microtubule formation

The structure and function of the centrosomes from Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells were investigated by electron microscopy of negatively stained wholemount preparations of cell lysates. Cells were trypsinized from culture dishes, lysed with Triton X-100, sedimented onto ionized, carbon-coated grids, and negatively stained with phosphotungstate. The centrosomes from both interphase and dividing cells consisted of pairs of centrioles, a fibrous pericentriolar material, and a group of virus-like particles which were characteristic of the CHO cells and which served as markers for the pericentriolar material. Interphase centrosomes anchored up to two dozen microtubules when cells were lysed under conditions which preserved native microtubules. When Colcemid-blocked mitotic cells, initially devoid of microtubules, were allowed to recover for 10 min, microtubules formed at the pericentriolar material, but not at the centrioles. When lysates of Colcemid-blocked cells were incubated in vitro with micotubule protein purified from porcine brain tissue, up to 250 microtubules assembled at the centrosomes, similar to the number of microtubules that would normally form at the centrosome during cell division. A few microtubules could also be assembled in vitro onto the ends of isolated centrioles from which the pericentriolar material had been removed, forming characteristic axoneme- like bundles. In addition, microtubules; were assembled onto fragments of densely staining, fibrous material which was tentatively identified as periocentriolar material by its association of CHO can initiate and anchor microtubules both in vivo and in vitro.     

Meiosis, egg activation, and nuclear envelope breakdown are differentially reliant on Ca2+, whereas germinal vesicle breakdown is Ca2+ independent in the mouse oocyte

During early development, intracellular Ca2+ mobilization is not only essential for fertilization, but has also been implicated during other meiotic and mitotic events, such as germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) and nuclear envelope breakdown (NEBD). In this study, the roles of intracellular and extracellular Ca2+ were examined during meiotic maturation and reinitiation at parthenogenetic activation and during first mitosis in a single species using the same methodologies. Cumulus-free metaphase II mouse oocytes immediately resumed anaphase upon the induction of a large, transient Ca2+ elevation. This resumption of meiosis and associated events, such as cortical granule discharge, were not sensitive to extracellular Ca2+ removal, but were blocked by intracellular Ca2+ chelators. In contrast, meiosis I was dependent on external Ca2+; in its absence, the formation and function of the first meiotic spindle was delayed, the first polar body did not form and an interphase-like state was induced. GVBD was not dependent on external Ca2+ and showed no associated Ca2+ changes. NEBD at first mitosis in fertilized eggs, on the other hand, was frequently, but not always associated with a brief Ca2+ transient and was dependent on Ca2+ mobilization. We conclude that GVBD is Ca2+ independent, but that the dependence of NEBD on Ca2+ suggests regulation by more than one pathway. As cells develop from Ca(2+)-independent germinal vesicle oocytes to internal Ca(2+)-dependent pronuclear eggs, internal Ca2+ pools increase by approximately fourfold.     

Quantitative initiation of microtubule assembly by chromosomes from Chinese hamster ovary cells

The microtubule nucleating capacity of chromosomes was tested in vitro in lysates of Chinese hamster ovary cells. Colcemid-blocked mitotic cells were lysed with the detergent Triton X-100, incubated with exogenous porcine brain tubulin, attached to electron microscope grids and observed as whole-mounts. Under suitable conditions, greater than 98% of the chromosomes gave rise to microtubules at their kinetochore regions, thus unequivocally demonstrating that chromosomes are competent to initiate specifically microtubule formation. The average number of microtubules that polymerized onto a chromosome was 8 +/- 5, and greater than 36% of the chromosomes had between 10 and 19 microtubules per kinetochore region. We conclude that under the lysis conditions employed, virtually all the chromosomes retain their kinetochores, and that the kinetochores retain a substantial fraction of their microtubule nucleating capacity.     

Critical role of Ena/VASP proteins for filopodia formation in neurons and in function downstream of netrin-1

Ena/VASP proteins play important roles in axon outgrowth and guidance. Ena/VASP activity regulates the assembly and geometry of actin networks within fibroblast lamellipodia. In growth cones, Ena/VASP proteins are concentrated at filopodia tips, yet their role in growth cone responses to guidance signals has not been established. We found that Ena/VASP proteins play a pivotal role in formation and elongation of filopodia along neurite shafts and growth cone. Netrin-1-induced filopodia formation was dependent upon Ena/VASP function and directly correlated with Ena/VASP phosphorylation at a regulatory PKA site. Accordingly, Ena/VASP function was required for filopodial formation from the growth cone in response to global PKA activation. We propose that Ena/VASP proteins control filopodial dynamics in neurons by remodeling the actin network in response to guidance cues.