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PMID: 3316988 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Insertions of up to 17 amino acids into a region of alpha-tubulin do not disrupt function in vivo.

Molecular and cellular biology ·Vol. 7 ·No. 10 ·1987-10-00 ·Pages 3799-805

Schatz PJ, Georges GE, Solomon F, Botstein D

Abstract

Microtubules in yeasts are essential components of the mitotic and meiotic spindle and are necessary for nuclear movement during cell division and mating. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has two alpha-tubulin genes, TUB1 and TUB3, either of which alone is sufficient for these processes when present in a high enough copy number. Comparisons of sequences from several species reveals the presence of a variable region near the amino terminus of alpha-tubulin proteins. We perturbed the structure of this region in TUB3 by inserting into it 3, 9, or 17 amino acids and tested the ability of these altered proteins to function as the only alpha-tubulin protein in yeast cells. We found that each of these altered proteins was sufficient on its own for mitotic growth, mating, and methods of yeast. We conclude that this region can tolerate considerable variation without losing any of the highly conserved functions of alpha-tubulin. Our results suggest that variability in this region occurs because it can be tolerated, not because it specifies an important function for the protein.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence DNA Mutational Analysis Genetic Complementation Test Microtubules/physiology Saccharomyces cerevisiae/physiology Structure-Activity Relationship Tubulin/physiology
Chemicals
Tubulin
Authors & Affiliations
4 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Schatz P J
Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
Georges G E
Solomon F
Botstein D
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Article Info
Journal
Molecular and cellular biology
Abbr.
Mol Cell Biol
ISSN
0270-7306
DOI
10.1128/mcb.7.10.3799-3805.1987
Published
1987-10-00
Pages
3799-805
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
8109087
PMCID
PMC368037
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM-21253 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM18973 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1128/mcb.7.10.3799-3805.1987 PMC Full Text View journal details
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