title: Tau interaction with microtubules in vivo.
abstract: Tau is a major microtubule-associated protein which induces bundling and stabilization of axonal microtubules (MTs). To investigate the interaction of tau with MTs in living cells, we expressed GFP-tau fusion protein in cultured Xenopus embryo neurons and performed time-lapse imaging of tau-labeled MTs. Tau uniformly labeled individual MTs regardless of their assembly/disassembly status and location along the axon. Photobleaching experiments indicated that interaction of tau with MTs is very dynamic, with a half-time of fluorescence recovery of the order of 3 seconds. Treatment of cells with taxol, a drug that suppresses MT dynamics, rapidly induced detachment of tau from MTs. Although binding of tau to straight MTs was uniform, there was a heightened concentration of tau at the sites of high MT curvature. Our results suggest that dynamic interaction of tau with MTs may modify local mechanical properties of individual MTs and play a crucial role in the remodeling of the MT cytoskeleton during neuronal plasticity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics M/C 901, University of Illinois at Chicago, 835 S. Wolcott Avenue, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Andrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Samsonov
authors.forename: Jiang-Zhou
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rasenick
authors.forename: Sergey V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Popov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000378:metabolism; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D003902:Detergents / Q000494:pharmacology; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000378:metabolism; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008027:Light; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008870:Microtubules / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000494:pharmacology; D011485:Protein Binding; D013997:Time Factors; D014981:Xenopus; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D003902:Detergents; D016875:tau Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D004247:DNA; D017239:Paclitaxel