Calmodulin colocalization with cold-stable and nocodazole-stable microtubules in living PtK1 cells.

To investigate the association of calmodulin (CaM) with microtubules (MTs) in the mitotic apparatus (MA), the distributions of both CaM and tubulin were examined in mitotic PtK1 cells in which MT subclasses had been selectively removed or altered by treatment with cold or with the MT inhibitor, nocodazole. A fluorescent CaM conjugate with tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate (CaM-TRITC) was microinjected into living cells, and the CaM distribution in the living cell was compared to the distribution of MTs indicated by tubulin immunofluorescence. In cells which had been treated for 2 h at 0 to 4 degrees C or with a low (0.03 micrograms/ml) dose of nocodazole, the only MTs remaining appeared to be kinetochore MTs (kMTs). The distribution of microinjected CaM-TRITC in these cells was indistinguishable from that found in untreated cells and appeared to be colocalized with the kMTs. In cells which were treated with a high (3.0 micrograms/ml) dose of nocodazole, only short MTs remained. When CaM-TRITC was injected into these cells, it formed a somewhat punctate distribution near the chromosomes and, after tubulin immunofluorescence processing, colocalized with what appeared to be remnants of kMTs. We believe that these observations support the hypothesis that CaM exists in the MA in a structural association with kMTs.