Identification of an alpha-tubulin mutant of fission yeast from gamma-tubulin-interacting protein screening: genetic evidence for alpha-/gamma-tubulin interaction.
gamma-Tubulin has been determined to be a central element of microtubule nucleation and, thus, indispensable for cellular organization of the microtubule. Utilizing the fact that human gamma-tubulin can function in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, we have generated a unique mutant screening procedure which can specifically select mutants of genes encoding gamma-tubulin-interacting proteins. One of the isolated mutants, cs76, turned out to carry a mutation in the alpha 1-tubulin gene (nda2(+)). This result suggests a direct interaction between the alpha- and gamma-tubulins. We located the mutation site in the nda2 gene and characterized the mutant phenotype. Our results demonstrate the importance of the alpha-/gamma-tubulin interaction in microtubule nucleation and should complement previous knowledge.
Takeoka
A
A
Department of Food Microbiology, The University of Tokushima School of Medicine, Kuramoto, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
Shimizu
M
M
Horio
T
T
D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D010641:Phenotype; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000235:genetics*; D013552:Swine; D014404:Tubulin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*
D014404:Tubulin