title: Systematic identification of tubulin-interacting fragments of the microtubule-associated protein Tau leads to a highly efficient promoter of microtubule assembly.
abstract: Tau is a microtubule-associated protein that stabilizes microtubules and stimulates their assembly. Current descriptions of the tubulin-interacting regions of Tau involve microtubules as the target and result mainly from deletions of Tau domains based on sequence analysis and from NMR spectroscopy experiments. Here, instead of microtubules, we use the complex of two tubulin heterodimers with the stathmin-like domain of the RB3 protein (T(2)R) to identify interacting Tau fragments generated by limited proteolysis. We show that fragments in the proline-rich region and in the microtubule-binding repeats domain each interact on their own not only with T(2)R but also with microtubules, albeit with moderate affinity. NMR analysis of the interaction with T(2)R of constructs in these two regions leads to a fragment, composed of adjacent parts of the microtubule-binding repeat domain and of the proline-rich region, that binds tightly to stabilized microtubules. This demonstrates the synergy of the two Tau regions we identified in the Tau-microtubule interaction. Moreover, we show that this fragment, which binds to two tubulin heterodimers, stimulates efficiently microtubule assembly.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Enzymologie et Biochimie Structurales, Centre de Recherche de Gif, CNRS, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fauquant
authors.forename: Virginie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Redeker
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Landrieu
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wieruszeski
authors.forename: Dries
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Verdegem
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Laprévote
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lippens
authors.forename: Benoît
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gigant
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Knossow
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001667:Binding, Competitive; D007700:Kinetics; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000378:metabolism*; D011392:Proline / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012756:Sheep; D014404:Tubulin / Q000378:metabolism*; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010446:Peptide Fragments; D014404:Tubulin; D016875:tau Proteins; D011392:Proline