Auxin controls the orientation of cortical microtubules in maize coleoptile segments. We used tyrosinylated alpha-tubulin as a marker to assess auxin-dependent changes in microtubule turnover. Auxin-induced tyrosinylated alpha-tubulin, correlated with an elevated sensitivity of growth to antimicrotubular compounds such as ethyl-N-phenylcarbamate (EPC). We determined the affinity of alpha-tubuli...

To determine the spectrum of tubulin variants in cytoskeletons of Trypanosoma brucei carboxy-terminal fragments of alpha- and beta-tubulin were isolated and characterized by sequencing and mass spectrometry. All variants arise by posttranslational modifications. We confirm the presence of tyrosinated and detyrosinated alpha-tubulin. Unexpectedly, but in line with its sequence, beta-tubulin also...

The goal of our investigations is to define the genetic control of microtubule-based processes in a higher plant. The available evidence suggests that we have achieved our first objective: the characterization of the complete alpha-tubulin and beta-tubulin gene families of Arabidopsis. Four additional alpha-tubulin genes (TUA2, TUA4, TUA5, and TUA6) of Arabidopsis have been cloned and sequenced...

We have previously shown that the alpha-tubulin of Chlamydomonas flagella is synthesized as a precursor which is modified by acetylation in the flagellum during flagellar assembly. In this report, we show the presence of an alpha-tubulin acetylase activity in isolated Chlamydomonas flagella that is highly specific for alpha-tubulin of both mammalian brain and Chlamydomonas.

We describe five mouse tubulin cloned cDNAs, two (M alpha 1 and M alpha 2) that encode alpha-tubulin and three (M beta 2, M beta 4, and M beta 5) that encode beta-tubulin. The sequence of these clones reveals that each represents a distinct gene product. Within the sequence common to the two alpha-tubulin cDNAs, the encoded amino acids are identical, though the 3' noncoding regions are wholly d...

The growing and shortening dynamics of individual bovine brain microtubules at their plus ends at steady state in vitro, assembled from isotypically pure alpha beta II, alpha beta III, or alpha beta IV tubulin dimers, were determined by differential interference contrast video microscopy. Microtubules assembled from the purified alpha beta III isotype were considerably more dynamic than microtu...

The principal alpha-tubulin within Chlamydomonas reinhardtii flagellar axonemes differs from the major alpha-tubulin in the cell body. We show that these two isoelectric variants of alpha-tubulin are related to one another since posttranslational modification of the cell body precursor form converts it to the axonemal form. During flagellar assembly, precursor alpha-tubulin enters the flagella ...

We have used specific monoclonal antibodies to facilitate a study of acetylated and tyrosinated alpha-tubulin in the microtubule (MT) arrays in the Trypanosoma brucei cell. Acetylated alpha-tubulin is not solely located in the stable microtubular arrays but is present even in the ephemeral microtubules of the mitotic spindle. Moreover, there is a uniform distribution of this isoform in all arra...

PURPOSE To examine the distribution of acetylated alpha-tubulin in the connecting cilium of rat rod photoreceptors during different stages of photoreceptor development. METHODS An antibody found to be specific for the acetylated form of alpha-tubulin was used in immunoelectron microscopy of retinas from animals of different ages. RESULTS All the microtubules of the connecting cilium, includ...

The generation of cortical projection neurons relies on the coordination of radial migration with branching. Here, we report that the multisubunit histone acetyltransferase Elongator complex, which contributes to transcript elongation, also regulates the maturation of projection neurons. Indeed, silencing of its scaffold (Elp1) or catalytic subunit (Elp3) cell-autonomously delays the migration ...