title: The repetitive microtubule-associated proteins MARP-1 and MARP-2 of Trypanosoma brucei.
abstract: The microtubular membrane skeleton of Trypanosoma brucei contains two closely related, repetitive, high-molecular-weight microtubule-associated proteins, MARP-1 and MARP-2 (MARP for Microtubule-Associated Repetitive Proteins). Their structure is unusual in that they consist of tandemly arranged, strongly conserved 38-amino-acid repeat units over almost their entire length of about 320 kDa. Their nonrepetitive N and C ends are comparatively short. The predicted amino acid sequences reveal a gradient of similarity between MARP-1 and MARP-2 which increases from the N-terminus (no significant similarity) through the repeat domain (50% similarity) to the C-terminus (94.5% similarity). Transfection of mammalian cell lines with recombinant fragments of MARP-2 demonstrate that the nonrepetitive C-terminus of MARP-2 binds specifically to microtubules. This C-terminus does not show sequence similarity with any other microtubule-associated proteins and thus appears to represent a novel type of microtubule-binding domain.
authors.affiliation: Institut für allgemeine Mikrobiologie, University of Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Affolter
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hemphill
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Roditi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Seebeck
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014162:Transfection; D014346:Trypanosoma brucei brucei / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: C073903:MARP-1 protein, Trypanosoma brucei; C090898:MARP-2 protein, Trypanosoma brucei; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins