This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 16/1/45    most recent tpc.016501v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (31) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Shimamura, M. Articles by Mineyuki, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Shimamura, M. Articles by Mineyuki, Y. Agricola Articles by Shimamura, M. Articles by Mineyuki, Y.

-Tubulin in Basal Land Plants: Characterization, Localization, and Implication in the Evolution of Acentriolar Microtubule Organizing Centers

^a Department of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan
^b Plant Molecular Physiology Laboratory, Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth, Kizu, Kyoto 619-0292, Japan
^c Department of Biology, University of Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana 70504
^d Division of Molecular Mycology and Medicine, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan
^e Department of Biology, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan
^f Otsuka Department of Molecular Nutrition, School of Medicine, University of Tokushima, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan
^g Department of Nutrition, School of Medicine, University of Tokushima, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan

¹ To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail mineyuk{at}hiroshima-u.ac.jp; fax 81-824-24-0734

Although seed plants have -tubulin, a ubiquitous component of centrosomes associated with microtubule nucleation in algal and animal cells, they do not have discrete microtubule organizing centers (MTOCs) comparable to animal centrosomes, and the organization of microtubule arrays in plants has remained enigmatic. Spindle development in basal land plants has revealed a surprising variety of MTOCs that may represent milestones in the evolution of the typical diffuse acentrosomal plant spindle. We have isolated and characterized the -tubulin gene from a liverwort, one of the extant basal land plants. Sequence similarity to the -tubulin gene of higher plants suggests that the -tubulin gene is highly conserved in land plants. The G9 antibody to fission yeast -tubulin recognized a single band of 55 kD in immunoblots from bryophytes. Immunohistochemistry with the G9 antibody clearly documented the association of -tubulin with various MTOC sites in basal land plants (e.g., discrete centrosomes with and without centrioles and the plastid surface in monoplastidic meiosis of bryophytes). Changes in the distribution of -tubulin occur in a cell cycle–specific manner during monoplastidic meiosis in the liverwort Dumortiera hirsuta. -Tubulin changes its localization from the plastid surface in prophase I to the spindle, from the spindle to phragmoplasts and the nuclear envelope in telophase I, and back to the plastid surfaces in prophase II. In vitro experiments show that -tubulin is detectable on the surface of isolated plastids and nuclei of D. hirsuta, and microtubules can be repolymerized from the isolated plastids. -Tubulin localization patterns on plastid and nuclear surfaces are not affected by the destruction of microtubules by oryzalin. We conclude that -tubulin is a highly conserved protein associated with microtubule nucleation in basal land plants and that it has a cell cycle–dependent distribution essential for the orderly succession of microtubule arrays.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Nakamura and T. Hashimoto A mutation in the Arabidopsis {gamma}-tubulin-containing complex causes helical growth and abnormal microtubule branching J. Cell Sci., July 1, 2009; 122(13): 2208 - 2217. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Nakayama, T. Ishii, T. Hotta, and K. Mizuno Radial Microtubule Organization by Histone H1 on Nuclei of Cultured Tobacco BY-2 Cells J. Biol. Chem., June 13, 2008; 283(24): 16632 - 16640. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. C. Brown and B. E. Lemmon {gamma}-Tubulin and microtubule organization during meiosis in the liverwort Ricciocarpus natans (Ricciaceae) Am. J. Botany, June 1, 2008; 95(6): 664 - 671. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				I. Meier Composition of the plant nuclear envelope: theme and variations J. Exp. Bot., January 1, 2007; 58(1): 27 - 34. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Pastuglia, J. Azimzadeh, M. Goussot, C. Camilleri, K. Belcram, J.-L. Evrard, A.-C. Schmit, P. Guerche, and D. Bouchez {gamma}-Tubulin Is Essential for Microtubule Organization and Development in Arabidopsis PLANT CELL, June 1, 2006; 18(6): 1412 - 1425. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. O. Wasteneys and Z. Yang New Views on the Plant Cytoskeleton Plant Physiology, December 1, 2004; 136(4): 3884 - 3891. [Full Text] [PDF]

				J.-B. Peltier, A. J. Ytterberg, Q. Sun, and K. J. van Wijk New Functions of the Thylakoid Membrane Proteome of Arabidopsis thaliana Revealed by a Simple, Fast, and Versatile Fractionation Strategy J. Biol. Chem., November 19, 2004; 279(47): 49367 - 49383. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. BALUSKA, D. VOLKMANN, and P. W. BARLOW Eukaryotic Cells and their Cell Bodies: Cell Theory Revised Ann. Bot., July 1, 2004; 94(1): 9 - 32. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]