Mechanism of the Initial Tubulin Nucleation Phase.
J Phys Chem Lett
; 13(41): 9725-9735, 2022 Oct 20.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36222421
ABSTRACT
Tubulin nucleation is a highly frequent event in microtubule (MT) dynamics but is poorly understood. In this work, we characterized the structural changes during the initial nucleation phase of dynamic tubulin. Using size-exclusion chromatography-eluted tubulin dimers in an assembly buffer solution free of glycerol and tubulin aggregates enabled us to start from a well-defined initial thermodynamic ensemble of isolated dynamic tubulin dimers and short oligomers. Following a temperature increase, time-resolved X-ray scattering and cryo-transmission electron microscopy during the initial nucleation phase revealed an isodesmic assembly mechanism of one-dimensional (1D) tubulin oligomers (where dimers were added and/or removed one at a time), leading to sufficiently stable two-dimensional (2D) dynamic nanostructures, required for MT assembly. A substantial amount of tubulin octamers accumulated before two-dimensional lattices appeared. Under subcritical assembly conditions, we observed a slower isodesmic assembly mechanism, but the concentration of 1D oligomers was insufficient to form the multistranded 2D nucleus required for MT formation.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Tubulin
/
Microtubules
Language:
En
Journal:
J Phys Chem Lett
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Publication country:
EEUU
/
ESTADOS UNIDOS
/
ESTADOS UNIDOS DA AMERICA
/
EUA
/
UNITED STATES
/
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
/
US
/
USA