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Eukaryotic Cell, February 2004, p. 212-220, Vol. 3, No. 1
1535-9778/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/EC.3.1.212-220.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Genetic Evidence for Interaction between {eta}- and ß-Tubulins

F. Ruiz,1 P. Dupuis-Williams,2 C. Klotz,1 F. Forquignon,1 M. Bergdoll,3 J. Beisson,1 and F. Koll1*

Centre de Génétique Moléculaire, CNRS, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette,1 Ecole Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles, 75005 Paris,2 Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes, CNRS, 67083 Strasbourg Cedex, France3

Received 3 October 2003/ Accepted 12 December 2003

The thermosensitive allelic mutations sm19-1 and sm19-2 of Paramecium tetraurelia cause defective basal body duplication: growth at the nonpermissive temperature yields smaller and smaller cells with fewer and fewer basal bodies. Complementation cloning of the SM19 gene identified a new tubulin, eta-tubulin, showing low homology with each of the other five tubulins, {alpha} to {varepsilon}, characterized in P. tetraurelia. In order to analyze {eta}-tubulin functions, we used a genetic approach to identify interacting molecules. Among a series of extragenic suppressors of the sm19-1 mutation, the su3-1 mutation was characterized as an E288K substitution in the ß-PT2 gene coding for a ß-tubulin, while the mutation nocr1 conferring nocodazole resistance and localized in another ß-tubulin gene, ß-PT3, was shown to enhance the mutant phenotype. The interaction between {eta}-tubulin and microtubules, revealed by genetic data, is supported by two further types of evidence: first, the mutant phenotype is rescued by taxol, which stabilizes microtubules; second, molecular modeling suggests that {eta}-tubulin, like {gamma}- and {delta}-tubulins, might be a microtubule minus-end capping molecule. The likely function of {eta}-tubulin as part of a complex specifically involved in basal body biogenesis is discussed.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Centre de Génétique Moléculaire du C.N.R.S, F 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France. Phone: 33 1 69 82 31 45. Fax: 33 1 69 82 31 50. E-mail: koll{at}cgm.cnrs-gif.fr.

Eukaryotic Cell, February 2004, p. 212-220, Vol. 3, No. 1
1535-9778/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/EC.3.1.212-220.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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