title: Selective expression of the tba-1 alpha tubulin gene in a set of mechanosensory and motor neurons during the development of Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a monoclonal antibody 3A5 raised against Drosophila alpha tubulins selectively stains the nervous system immuno-cytochemically. Direct screening of a C. elegans cDNA expression library with 3A5 has allowed cloning of the tba-1 (tubulin alpha-1) gene from C. elegans. The corresponding genomic DNA encodes a protein of 449 amino acid residues that has a high homology with the vertebrate alpha tubulins but a lower homology with yeast alpha tubulins. Interestingly, the carboxyl-terminus sequence EEEGEEY (Glu-Glu-Glu-Gly-Glu-Glu-Tyr) of the nematode tba-1 encoded isotype is identical to these residues in human, mouse, rat, pig and chicken alpha-1 tubulin isotypes that are expressed in the brain. Temporal and spatial expression studies of the tba-1 gene using Northern blot analysis and tba-1::lacZ fusion gene expression analysis during embryonic and the postembryonic development of C. elegans reveal that the tba-1 tubulin is preferentially expressed in the nematode nervous system, especially in a set of mechanosensory neurons and a set of ventral cord motor neurons (DA, DB, VA, and VB) during embryonic and postembryonic development. Our results indicate an inter-species conservation of the alpha tubulin carboxyl-terminal domain in functionally related brain specific isotypes from metazoans as divergent as mammals and nematodes. These results also suggest specificity of the individual alpha tubulin isotypes during neural development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecological Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukushige
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Siddiqui
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001483:Base Sequence; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D015870:Gene Expression; D007814:Larva; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014404:Tubulin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014404:Tubulin