Tau protein function in living cells

Tau protein from mammalian brain promotes microtubule polymerization in vitro and is induced during nerve cell differentiation. However, the effects of tau or any other microtubule-associated protein on tubulin assembly within cells are presently unknown. We have tested tau protein activity in vivo by microinjection into a cell type that has no endogenous tau protein. Immunofluorescence shows that tau protein microinjected into fibroblast cells associates specifically with microtubules. The injected tau protein increases tubulin polymerization and stabilizes microtubules against depolymerization. This increased polymerization does not, however, cause major changes in cell morphology or microtubule arrangement. Thus, tau protein acts in vivo primarily to induce tubulin assembly and stabilize microtubules, activities that may be necessary, but not sufficient, for neuronal morphogenesis.     

Association of ebola virus matrix protein VP40 with microtubules

Viruses exploit a variety of cellular components to complete their life cycles, and it has become increasingly clear that use of host cell microtubules is a vital part of the infection process for many viruses. A variety of viral proteins have been identified that interact with microtubules, either directly or via a microtubule-associated motor protein. Here, we report that Ebola virus associates with microtubules via the matrix protein VP40. When transfected into mammalian cells, a fraction of VP40 colocalized with microtubule bundles and VP40 coimmunoprecipitated with tubulin. The degree of colocalization and microtubule bundling in cells was markedly intensified by truncation of the C terminus to a length of 317 amino acids. Further truncation to 308 or fewer amino acids abolished the association with microtubules. Both the full-length and the 317-amino-acid truncation mutant stabilized microtubules against depolymerization with nocodazole. Direct physical interaction between purified VP40 and tubulin proteins was demonstrated in vitro. A region of moderate homology to the tubulin binding motif of the microtubule-associated protein MAP2 was identified in VP40. Deleting this region resulted in loss of microtubule stabilization against drug-induced depolymerization. The presence of VP40-associated microtubules in cells continuously treated with nocodazole suggested that VP40 promotes tubulin polymerization. Using an in vitro polymerization assay, we demonstrated that VP40 directly enhances tubulin polymerization without any cellular mediators. These results suggest that microtubules may play an important role in the Ebola virus life cycle and potentially provide a novel target for therapeutic intervention against this highly pathogenic virus.     

Effects of glycerol on microtubule polymerization kinetics

Steady state and kinetic studies of polymerization of purified microtubule protein show little effect of glycerol on the steady state level of polymerization, as demonstrated by measurements of critical concentration. The rates of polymerization and depolymerization are slowed in the presence of glycerol. This data indicates that the stabilization of microtubules by high glycerol is largely a kinetic effect rather than a shift in equilibrium. However, the apparent critical concentration for microtubule polymerization from crude brain homogenate is substantially higher in the absence of glycerol, and glycerol appears to protect microtubule polymerization against the action of endogenous inhibitors.     

33K protein--an inhibitory factor of tubulin polymerization in porcine brain

A factor (33K protein) that modulates tubulin polymerization in vitro has been purified to homogeneity from porcine brain by ammonium sulfate fractionation and Whatman DE52, Toyo-pearl HW65C and Bio-Gel A 0.5 m column chromatographies. The purified fraction was free of nucleic acids and sugars. The activity of the purified 33K protein is pronase E sensitive but apparently heat- and trypsin-resistant though it undergoes tryptic digestion. The 33K protein inhibits polymerization of brain microtubule proteins in a dose-dependent manner and partially depolymerizes preformed microtubules. It also inhibits polymerization of purified starfish tubulin and microtubule elongation involving fragellar outer doublet microtubules and purified porcine brain tubulin. This suggests that the target of the 33K protein is tubulin rather than microtubule-associated proteins. The 33K protein causes incomplete depolymerization of microtubules and a new steady state is quickly attained which is apparently independent of microtubule mass concentration. Divalent cations such as calcium and magnesium do not modulate the inhibitory activity of the 33K protein.     

Increased visualization of microtubules by an improved fixation procedure.

We have found that when a buffer utilized for in vitro polymerization of microtubules, i.e., 1 mM guanosine triphosphate, 1 mM MgSO4, 2 mM ethylene glycol bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N, N'-tetraacetic acid 100 mM piperazine-N,N'-bis(2-ethanesulfonic acid), pH 6.9 polymerization mix, was used in the glutaraldehyde prefixation regimen instead of classical fixative buffers, i.e., isotonic cacodylate or phosphate buffer, the following features were observed in thin-sections of the cytoplasm of interphase HeLa cells: (a) a greater than 2-fold increase in total microtubule contour length, (b) a 2-fold increase in a number of microtubules greater than or equal to 1 mu long, (c) an enhanced association of microtubules with cytoplasmic organelles, and (d) an increased clustering of 100 A filaments located in a perinuclear region of the cell. Furthermore, we found that after we incubated purified chick brain microtubules on a Sephadex G-25 column pre-equilibrated with polymerization mix, cacodylate or phosphate buffer at 37 degrees C, and then eluted the microtubules at 37 degrees C, the exposure to cacodylate or phosphate buffer caused extensive depolymerization, but exposure to polymerization mix buffer allowed reisolation of highly polymerized microtubules. Our results imply that prefixation with cacodylate or phosphate buffered glutaraldenyde destabilizes microtubules leading to the decreased visualization of microtubules.     

The microtubule binding domain of microtubule-associated protein MAP1B contains a repeated sequence motif unrelated to that of MAP2 and tau

We report the complete sequence of the microtubule-associated protein MAP1B, deduced from a series of overlapping genomic and cDNA clones. The encoded protein has a predicted molecular mass of 255,534 D and contains two unusual sequences. The first is a highly basic region that includes multiple copies of a short motif of the form KKEE or KKEVI that are repeated, but not at exact intervals. The second is a set of 12 imperfect repeats, each of 15 amino acids and each spaced by two amino acids. Subcloned fragments spanning these two distinctive regions were expressed as labeled polypeptides by translation in a cell-free system in vitro. These polypeptides were tested for their ability to copurify with unlabeled brain microtubules through successive cycles of polymerization and depolymerization. The peptide corresponding to the region containing the KKEE and KKEVI motifs cycled with brain microtubules, whereas the peptide corresponding to the set of 12 imperfect repeats did not. To define the microtubule binding domain in vivo, full-length and deletion constructs encoding MAP1B were assembled and introduced into cultured cells by transfection. The expression of transfected polypeptides was monitored by indirect immunofluorescence using anti-MAP1B-specific antisera. These experiments showed that the basic region containing the KKEE and KKEVI motifs is responsible for the interaction between MAP1B and microtubules in vivo. This region bears no sequence relationship to the microtubule binding domains of kinesin, MAP2, or tau.     

Evidence Against Impaired Brain Microtubule Protein Polymerization at High Glucose Concentrations or During Diabetes Mellitus

Previous studies suggest that brain microtubule protein exposed to high glucose levels or isolated from diabetic rats can become glucosylated and that this impairs GTP-induced microtubule polymerization. We set out to extend that investigation to define the mechanistic basis for inhibition of microtubule assembly during diabetes or on incubation at high glucose levels. Rat and bovine brain microtubule protein was purified by cycles of polymerization/depolymerization. When microtubules were incubated for 1 h in either buffer or buffer containing glucose (up to 165 mM), there was no difference in polymerization, a finding contrary to the earlier study. Other rats were injected with vehicle or streptozotocin (90 mg/kg) to induce diabetes as evidenced by serum glucose in excess of 300 mg%, and at 4 weeks, brain microtubule protein was isolated by the polymerization cycling method. Again, there was no difference in the amount or purity of isolated microtubule protein between control or diabetic rats. We also observed no increase in microtubule glucosylation, and GTP-induced polymerization in vitro was indistinguishable for protein derived from brains of normal rats and rats with diabetes as measured by turbidity or electron microscopy. Our results suggest that in vitro incubation with glucose or in vivo elevation of glucose during diabetes fails to impair microtubule polymerization, pointing to other mechanisms for the neuropathy associated with diabetes.     

High molecular weight protein MAP 2 promoting microtubuleassembly in vitro is associated with microtubules in cells

Brain high molecular weight (HMW) protein promoting microtubule assembly in vitro and identical to MAP 2 (one of the proteins which copurify with tubulin through microtubule assembly-disassembly cycles), is shown to be associated with microtubules in interphase and mitotic cells. This HMW protein was purified earlier (Kuznetsov et al., 1978), directly from bovine brain without previous obtaining total microtubule protein. Now we have obtained a monospecific antibody against it. Identity of the HMW protein with MAP 2 is inferred from SDS-electrophoresis and immunological tests; its intra-cellular localization is determined by indirect immunofluorescent staining of cultured bovine tracheal epithelium.The anti-MAP 2 antibody stains the same structures in the cells as the tubulin antibody: it stains the fibrillar network in interphase cells, mitotic spindle, and the stem body. No fibrillar structures in the cells treated with colchicine or vinblastine were stained with the antibody against MAP 2. Anti-MAP 2 also stains tubulin-containing paracrystals which have been formed in the vinblastine-treated cells. Therefore HMW protein MAP 2 which promotes tubulin polymerization in vitro is associated with microtubules in vivo.     

Localisation of the major high-molecular-weight protein on microtubules in vitro and in cultured cells

An antiserum has been produced which is specific for the major high-molecular-weight protein (HMW) associated with pig brain microtubules assembled in vitro. The HMW protein can be localised on the surface of brain microtubules assembled in vitro as a corase helix by using a peroxidase labelling technique. In cultured ovarian granulosa cells, by using indirect immunofluorescence, the HMW is present on cold- and colchicine-sensitive structures which have an intracellular distribution similar to microtubules. It seems likely, therefore, that the brain protein is representative of a class of proteins associated with non-neuronal cytoplasmic microtubules.     

Assembly of microtubules in vitro as affected by high temperatures]

The process of polymerization of microtubules isolated from bovine brain by two polymerization-depolymerization cycles has been investigated at temperatures 41 and 45 degrees C. The damages of the polymerization process using the registration of the optical solution density are shown. The electron microscopic analysis has shown the damages in the structure of microtubules formed at high temperatures.     

The presence of an adenosine-5'-triphosphatase dependent on 6S tubulin and calcium ions in rat brain microtubules.

An ATPase activity was found in rat brain microtubules prepared by successive cycles of polymerization and depolymerization. On phosphocellulose column chromatography, the ATPase activity was recovered in the fraction eluted with 0.6 M KCl and containing the microtubule associated proteins. The ATPase activity was markedly stimulated by the addition of purified brain 6S tubulin, and the stimulation was dependent on the presence of Ca2+ ions. Approximately 50 pmol of purified 6S tubulin was required for the maximal stimulation in the presence of 8 microgram of microtubule associated proteins. The specific activity was 8 to 13 nmol of ATP hydrolyzed per min per mg of protein at 37 degrees C, and the Km value for ATP was 3 X 10(-5) M in the presence of added tubulin.     

Doublecortin is a microtubule-associated protein and is expressed widely by migrating neurons.

Doublecortin (DCX) is required for normal migration of neurons into the cerebral cortex, since mutations in the human gene cause a disruption of cortical neuronal migration. To date, little is known about the distribution of DCX protein or its function. Here, we demonstrate that DCX is expressed in migrating neurons throughout the central and peripheral nervous system during embryonic and postnatal development. DCX protein localization overlaps with microtubules in cultured primary cortical neurons, and this overlapping expression is disrupted by microtubule depolymerization. DCX coassembles with brain microtubules, and recombinant DCX stimulates the polymerization of purified tubulin. Finally, overexpression of DCX in heterologous cells leads to a dramatic microtubule phenotype that is resistant to depolymerization. Therefore, DCX likely directs neuronal migration by regulating the organization and stability of microtubules.     

Rigidity of microtubules is increased by stabilizing agents

Microtubules are rigid polymers that contribute to the static mechanical properties of cells. Because microtubules are dynamic structures whose polymerization is regulated during changes in cell shape, we have asked whether the mechanical properties of microtubules might also be modulated. We measured the flexural rigidity, or bending stiffness, of individual microtubules under a number of different conditions that affect the stability of microtubules against depolymerization. The flexural rigidity of microtubules polymerized with the slowly hydrolyzable nucleotide analogue guanylyl-(alpha, beta)- methylene-diphosphonate was 62 +/- 9 x 10(-24) Nm2 (weighted mean +/- SEM); that of microtubules stabilized with tau protein was 34 +/- 3 x 10(-24) Nm2; and that of microtubules stabilized with the antimitotic drug taxol was 32 +/- 2 x 10(-24) Nm2. For comparison, microtubules that were capped to prevent depolymerization, but were not otherwise stabilized, had a flexural rigidity of 26 +/- 2 x 10(-24) Nm2. Decreasing the temperature from 37 degrees C to approximately 25 degrees C, a condition that makes microtubules less stable, decreased the stiffness of taxol-stabilized microtubules by one-third. We thus find that the more stable a microtubule, the higher its flexural rigidity. This raises the possibility that microtubule rigidity may be regulated in vivo. In addition, the high rigidity of an unstabilized, GDP-containing microtubule suggests that a large amount of energy could be stored as mechanical strain energy in the protein lattice for subsequent force generation during microtubule depolymerization.     

The intracellular precursor of IL-1 beta is associated with microtubules in activated U937 cells

Treatment of the human histiocytic leukemia cell line U937 with PMA and LPS results in the induction of expression of IL-1. Rabbit polyclonal antibodies raised against mature rIL-1 have been used to investigate the intracellular location of the IL-1 beta precursor in U937 cells. The pattern of indirect immunofluorescence staining seen with these antibodies overlaps substantially with that seen by using a mAb raised against beta-tubulin. Depolymerization of tubulin by incubation of the cells at 0 degrees C before fixation results in the disruption of the pattern of IL-1 staining. IL-1 beta precursor in extracts of activated U937 cells is shown to co-cycle with exogenously added tubulin through two rounds of in vitro depolymerization/polymerization. In addition, immunoprecipitation of IL-1 from cell extracts at 30 degrees C but not at 0 degrees C results in co-precipitation of tubulin. Thus the IL-1 beta precursor is shown in vivo and in vitro to associate with the microtubules of the cytoskeleton.     

The stabilization of microtubules in isolated spindles by tubulin-colchicine complex

We have analyzed the effect of colchicine and tubulin dimer-colchicine complex (T-C) on microtubule assembly in mitotic spindles. Cold- and calcium-labile mitotic spindles were isolated from embryos of the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus employing EGTA/glycerol stabilization buffers. Polarization microscopy and measurements of spindle birefringent retardation (BR) were used to record the kinetics of microtubule assembly-disassembly in single spindles. When isolated spindles were perfused out of glycerol stabilizing buffer into a standard in vitro microtubule reassembly buffer (0.1 M Pipes, pH 6.8, 1 mM EGTA, 0.5 mM MgCl2, and 0.5 mM GTP) lacking glycerol, spindle BR decreased with a half-time of 120 s. Colchicine at 1 mM in this buffer had no effect on the rate of spindle microtubule disassembly. Inclusion of 20 microM tubulin or microtubule protein, purified from porcine brain, in this buffer resulted in an augmentation of spindle BR. Interestingly, in the presence of 20 microM T-C, spindle BR did not increase, but was reversibly stabilized; subsequent perfusion with reassembly buffer without T-C resulted in depolymerization. This behavior is striking in contrast to the rapid depolymerization of spindle microtubules induced by colchicine and T-C in vivo. These results support the current view that colchicine does not directly promote microtubule depolymerization. Rather, it is T-C complex that alters microtubule assembly, by reversibly binding to microtubules and inhibiting elongation. In vivo, colchicine can induce depolymerization of nonkinetochore spindle microtubules within 20 s. In vitro, colchicine blocks further microtubule assembly, but does not induce rapid disassembly.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Functional implications of cold-stable microtubules in kinetochore fibers of insect spermatocytes during anaphase

In normal anaphase of crane fly spermatocytes, the autosomes traverse most of the distance to the poles at a constant, temperature-dependent velocity. Concurrently, the birefringent kinetochore fibers shorten while retaining a constant birefringent retardation (BR) and width over most of the fiber length as the autosomes approach the centrosome region. To test the dynamic equilibrium model of chromosome poleward movement, we abruptly cooled or heated primary spermatocytes of the crane fly Nephrotoma ferruginea (and the grasshopper Trimerotropis maritima) during early anaphase. According to this model, abrupt cooling should induce transient depolymerization of the kinetochore fiber microtubules, thus producing a transient acceleration in the poleward movement of the autosomal chromosomes, provided the poles remain separated. Abrupt changes in temperature from 22 degrees C to as low as 4 degrees C or as high as 31 degrees C in fact produced immediate changes in chromosome velocity to new constant velocities. No transient changes in velocity were observed. At 4 degrees C (10 degrees C for grasshopper cells), chromosome movement ceased. Although no nonkinetochore fiber BR remained at these low temperatures, kinetochore fiber BR had changed very little. The cold stability of the kinetochore fiber microtubules, the constant velocity character of chromosome movement, and the observed Arrhenius relationship between temperature and chromosome velocity indicate that a rate-limiting catalyzed process is involved in the normal anaphase depolymerization of the spindle fiber microtubules. On the basis of our birefringence observations, the kinetochore fiber microtubules appear to exist in a steady-state balance between comparatively irreversible, and probably different, physiological pathways of polymerization and depolymerization.     

A new class of microtubule-associated proteins in plants

In plants there are three microtubule arrays involved in cellular morphogenesis that have no equivalent in animal cells. In animals, microtubules are decorated by another class of proteins - the structural MAPS - which serve to stabilize microtubules and assist in their organization. The best-studied members of this class in plants are the MAP-65 proteins that can be purified together with plant microtubules after several cycles of polymerization and depolymerization. Here we identify three similar MAP-65 complementary DNAs representing a small gene family named NtMAP65-1, which encode a new set of proteins, collectively called NtMAP65-1. We show that NtMAP65-1 protein localizes to areas of overlapping microtubules, indicating that it may function in the behaviour of antiparallel microtubules in the mitotic spindle and the cytokinetic phragmoplast.     

MAP3: characterization of a novel microtubule-associated protein

Using monoclonal antibodies we have characterized a brain protein that copurifies with microtubules. We identify it as a microtubule-associated protein (MAP) by the following criteria: it copolymerizes with tubulin through repeated cycles of microtubule assembly in vitro; it is not associated with any brain subcellular fraction other than microtubules; in double-label immunofluorescence experiments antibodies against this protein stain the same fibrous elements in cultured cells as are stained by antitubulin; and this fibrous staining pattern is dispersed when cytoplasmic microtubules are disrupted by colchicine. Because it is distinct from previously described MAPs we designate this novel species MAP3. The MAP3 protein consists of a closely spaced pair of polypeptides on SDS gels, Mr 180,000, which are present in both glial (glioma C6) and neuronal (neuroblastoma B104) cell lines. In brain the MAP3 antigen is present in both neurons and glia. In nerve cells its distribution is strikingly restricted: anti-MAP3 staining is detectable only in neurofilament-rich axons. It is not, however, a component of isolated brain intermediate filaments.     

Brain and egg tubulins from antarctic fishes are functionally and structurally distinct.

The multitubulin hypothesis proposes that chemically distinct tubulins may possess different polymerization properties or may form functionally different microtubules. To test this hypothesis, we have examined the functional properties and the structures of singlet-specific nonneural and neural tubulins from Antarctic fishes. Tubulins were purified from eggs of Notothenia coriiceps neglecta, and from brain tissues of N. coriiceps neglecta or N. gibberifrons, by DEAE ion-exchange chromatography and cycles of microtubule assembly/disassembly. At temperatures between 0 and 20 degrees C, each of these tubulins polymerized efficiently in vitro to yield microtubules of normal morphology. Critical concentrations for polymerization of egg tubulin ranged from 0.057 mg/ml at 3 degrees C to 0.002 mg/ml at 18 degrees C, whereas those for brain tubulin at like temperatures were 4-10-fold larger. Polymerization of both tubulins was entropically driven, but the apparent standard enthalpy and entropy changes for microtubule elongation by egg tubulin (delta Happ0 = +33.9 kcal/mol, delta Sapp0 = +151 entropy units) were significantly greater than values observed for brain tubulin (delta Happ0 = +26.5 kcal/mol, delta Sapp0 = +121 entropy units). Egg tubulin was composed of approximately six alpha and two beta chains and lacked the beta III isotype, whereas brain tubulin was more complex (greater than or equal to 10 of each chain type). Furthermore, egg alpha tubulins were more basic, and their carboxyl termini more resistant to cleavage by subtilisin, than were the alpha chains of brain. We conclude that brain and egg tubulins from the Antarctic fishes are functionally distinct in vitro, due either to qualitative or quantitative differences in isotypic composition, to differential posttranslational modification of shared isotypes, or to both.     

Interaction of tubulin and cellular microtubules with the new antitumor drug MDL 27048. A powerful and reversible microtubule inhibitor

We have characterized the binding of trans-1-(2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-[4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]-2-methyl-2- propen- 1-one (MDL 27048) to purified procine brain tubulin, and the inhibition of microtubule assembly by this compound in vitro and using cultured cells. Binding measurements were performed by difference absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. MDL 27048 binds to one site/tubulin heterodimer with an apparent equilibrium constant Kb = (2.8 +/- 0.8) X 10(6) M-1 (50 mM 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid, 1 mM [ethylenebis(oxyethylenenitrilo)]tetraacetic acid, 0.5 mM MgCl2, 0.1 mM GTP buffer, pH 6.7, at 25 degrees C). Podophyllotoxin displaced the binding of MDL 27048, suggesting an overlap with the colchicine-binding site. Assembly of purified tubulin into microtubules was inhibited by substoichiometric concentrations of MDL 27048, which also induced a slow depolymerization of preassembled microtubules. The cytoplasmic microtubules of PtK2 cells were disrupted in a concentration and time-dependent manner by MDL 27048, as observed by indirect immunofluorescence microscopy. Maximal depolymerization took place with 2 X 10(-6) M MDL 27048 in 3 h. When the inhibitor was washed off from the cells, fast microtubule assembly (approximately 8 min) and complete reorganization of the cytoplasmic microtubule network (15-30 min) were observed. MDL 27048 also induced mitotic arrest in SV40-3T3 cell cultures. Due to all these properties, this anti-tumor drug constitutes a new and potent microtubule inhibitor, characterized by its specificity and reversibility.