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Query: EC:3.4.11.18 (MAP)
 7,412 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The goal of this study was to extend our knowledge of MAP2 localization in the peripheral nervous system of mammals, since most results on MAP2 distribution are obtained in the central nervous system (CNS). This study shows the presence of microtubule-associated protein 2b (MAP2b) and MAP2c in the inner ear and describes the immunocytochemical distribution of MAP in adult and developing spiral ganglion of the rat by using a well-characterized antibody for MAP2a and MAP2b. (This antibody does not recognize the immature MAP2c). MAP2 labeling is already present in spiral ganglion neurons at 16 days of gestation. From this stage and up to the first postnatal week, MAP2 labeling was strong in all spiral ganglion neurons and their central processes. Double immunostaining at the 16-day stage with anti-MAP2 and anti-neurofilament (NF) antibodies mainly showed NF labeling in central branches that corresponded to anatomically and functionally described axons of spiral neurons. The peripheral branches lacked MAP2 labeling. In neonatal and postnatal stages, MAP2 reactivity was located in spiral ganglion perikarya and their neurites. The intensity of adult labeling was, however, lower than in younger animals. The antibody used in this study did not label axons originating in the CNS as seen by a negative response in efferent fibers from the intraganglionic spiral bundle of the cochlea. Our results suggest that during ontogenesis, MAP2 is highly expressed in the central projection of spiral ganglion neurons, and then is reduced to lower quantities in the central branch after the first postnatal week and persists into adulthood.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Developmental differentiation of MAP2 expression in the central versus the peripheral and efferent projections of the inner ear. 128 Nov 71

Microtubule-associated protein 2c (MAP2c) is one of a set of embryonic MAP forms that are expressed during neuronal differentiation in the developing nervous system. We have investigated its mode of action by expressing recombinant protein in non-neuronal cell lines using cell cDNA transfection techniques. At every level of expression, all the MAP2c was bound to cellular microtubules. At low MAP2c levels, the microtubules retained their normal arrangement, radiating from the centrosomal microtubule-organising centre (MTOC) but at higher levels an increasing proportion of microtubules occurred independently of the MTOC. In most cells, radially oriented microtubules still attached to the MTOC co-existed with detached microtubules, suggesting that the primary effect of MAP2 is to increase the probability that tubulin polymerisation will occur independently of the MTOC. The MTOC-independent microtubules formed bundles whose distribution depended on their length in relation to the diameter of the transfected cell. Short bundles were attached to the cell cortex at one end and followed a straight course through the cytoplasm, whereas longer bundles followed a curved path around the periphery of the cell. By comparing these patterns to those produced by two chemical agents that stabilise microtubules, taxol and dimethyl sulphoxide, we conclude that effects of MAP2c arise from two sources. It stabilises microtubules without providing assembly initiation sites and as a result produces relatively few, long microtubule bundles. These bend only when they encounter the restraining influence of the cortical cytoskeleton of the cell, indicating that MAP2c also imparts stiffness to them. By conferring these properties of stability and stiffness to neuronal microtubules MAP2c contributes to supporting the structure of developing neurites.
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PMID:Reorganisation of the microtubular cytoskeleton by embryonic microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2c). 133 11

The major component of the cytoskeleton of the parasitic hemoflagellate Trypanosoma brucei is a membrane skeleton which consists of a single layer of tightly spaced microtubules. This array encloses the entire cell body, and it is apposed to, and connected with, the overlying cell membrane. The microtubules of this array contain numerous microtubule-associated proteins. Prominent among those is a family of high molecular weight, repetitive proteins which consist to a large extent of tandemly arranged 38-amino acid repeat units. The binding of one of these proteins, MARP-1, to microtubules has now been characterized in vitro and in vivo. MARP-1 binds to microtubules via tubulin domains other than the COOH-termini used by microtubule-associated proteins from mammalian brain, e.g., MAP2 or Tau. In vitro binding assays using recombinant protein, as well as transfection of mammalian cell lines, have established that the repetitive 38-amino acid repeat units represent a novel microtubule-binding motif. This motif is very similar in length to those of the mammalian microtubule-associated proteins Tau, MAP2, and MAP-U, but both its sequence and charge are different. The observation that the microtubule-binding motifs both of the neural and the trypanosomal proteins are of similar length may reflect the fact that both mediate binding to the same repetitive surface, the microtubule, while their sequence and charge differences are in agreement with the observation that they interact with different domains of the tubulins.
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PMID:A novel microtubule-binding motif identified in a high molecular weight microtubule-associated protein from Trypanosoma brucei. 134 52

We used video assays to study the dynamic instability behavior of individual microtubules assembled in vitro with purified tau, purified MAP2 or a preparation of unfractionated heat-stable MAPs. Axoneme-nucleated microtubules were assembled from pure tubulin at concentrations between 4 and 9 microM in the presence of MAPs, and observed by video-differential interference contrast microscopy. Microtubules co-assembled with each MAP preparation exhibited the elongation and rapid shortening phases and the abrupt transitions (catastrophe and rescue) characteristic of dynamic instability. Each MAP preparation increased the microtubule elongation rate above that for purified tubulin alone by decreasing the tubulin subunit dissociation rate during elongation. The brain MAPs used in this study reduced the rate of microtubule rapid shortening, but allowed significant loss of polymer during the shortening phase. Purified tau and MAP2 decreased the frequency of catastrophe and increased the frequency of rescue, while the heat-stable MAPs suppressed catastrophe at all but the lowest tubulin concentrations. Thus, each of these MAPs modulates, but does not abolish, dynamic instability behavior of microtubules. We propose a model to explain how MAP2 and tau bind to the microtubule lattice at sites along protofilaments so that the MAPs promote polymerization, but do not significantly block the mechanism of rapid shortening inherent in the tubulin lattice. Rapid shortening, when it occurs, proceeds primarily by the dissociation of short fragments of protofilaments, which contain the bound MAPs.
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PMID:Brain microtubule-associated proteins modulate microtubule dynamic instability in vitro. Real-time observations using video microscopy. 148 7

During the interphase to metaphase transition, microtubules are destabilized by a cdc2 kinase-dependent phosphorylation event. This destabilization is due to a dramatic increase in the rate at which each growing microtubule starts to shrink (catastrophe rate). In principle, this could be brought about by lowering the affinity of stabilizing MAPs for the microtubule wall, by activating a factor that would actively increase the catastrophe rate or by an alteration of both parameters. Here we examine the stabilizing effect of bovine brain MAP2 on microtubules assembled in interphase Xenopus egg extracts. We show that this MAP strongly stabilizes microtubules assembled in the extracts against nocodazole-induced depolymerization. However, it does not protect them from the cdc2 kinase-induced shortening and destabilization. Moreover, the steady-state length of centrosome-nucleated microtubules in cdc2-treated extracts containing MAP2 is similar to that found in extracts lacking exogenous MAP2. We also show that although exogenous MAP2 is phosphorylated by cdc2 kinase in the extract, this is not the cause of microtubule destabilization. These results indicate that increased microtubule dynamics during mitosis is due to the activation of a factor that can function independently of the presence of active, stabilizing factors.
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PMID:cdc2 kinase-induced destabilization of MAP2-coated microtubules in Xenopus egg extracts. 156 30

5,5'-Bis[8-(phenylamino)-1-naphthalenesulfonate] (bis-ANS), the fluorescent probe which binds to tubulin, inhibits its assembly into microtubules [Horowitz et al. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 14647-14650]. The results described in this paper demonstrate that bis-ANS is quite distinct from other well-known microtubule inhibitors in its specificity of action. The inhibitory potentials of bis-ANS and its three structural analogues ANS, Prodan [6-propionyl-2-(dimethylamino)naphthalene], and NSA (naphthalenesulfonic acid) have been compared. It is found that they can be arranged in the following order according to their polymerization inhibitory potentials: bis-ANS approximately equal to Prodan much greater than ANS greater than NSA. Interestingly, the naphthalene nucleus is sufficient to cause inhibition of polymerization. Detailed experiments were carried out to examine the mode of assembly inhibition by aminonaphthalenes at the molecular level, using bis-ANS as a representative. It was found that there was little or no effect of bis-ANS on the assembly of tubulin when polymerization was induced by assembly promoters like taxol, DMSO, or glutamate, or on the assembly of subtilisin-digested protein (tubulin S), for all of which half-maximal inhibition could not be achieved even at 120 microM bis-ANS. On the contrary, bis-ANS acts as an inhibitor in the case of MAP- (MAP2 and tau) and poly(L-lysine)-induced assembly of tubulin, with half-maximal inhibitory concentrations ranging from 1.5 to 7.6 microM. Our results place bis-ANS as a novel inhibitor, which seems to specifically inhibit C-termini-mediated assembly. Of all assembly inhibitors known so far, none exhibits such selection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Bis-ANS as a specific inhibitor for microtubule-associated protein induced assembly of tubulin. 163 59

We have examined the phosphorylation of bovine microtubule-associated protein 4 (MAP4), formerly named MAP-U, by protein kinase C (PKC). When MAP4 was incubated with PKC, about 1 mol of phosphate was incorporated/mol of MAP4. Phosphorylation of MAP4 caused a remarkable decrease in the ability of the MAP to stimulate microtubule assembly. MAP4 consists of an amino-terminal projection domain and a carboxyl-terminal microtubule-binding domain. The carboxyl-terminal domain is subdivided into a Pro-rich region and an assembly-promoting (AP) sequence region containing four tandem repeats of AP sequence that is conserved in MAP4, MAP2, and tau [Aizawa et al. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 13849-13855]. In order to identify the site of MAP4 phosphorylated by PKC, a series of expressed MAP4 fragments was prepared and treated with the kinase. A fragment corresponding to the Pro-rich region (P fragment) was phosphorylated, while fragments corresponding to the projection domain and the AP sequence region were not. In addition, chymotryptic digestion of an authentic MAP4 prephosphorylated by PKC revealed that phosphate was incorporated almost exclusively into a 27-kDa fragment containing the carboxyl-terminal half of the Pro-rich region. We investigated the phosphorylation site in MAP4 using the P fragment and found that Ser815 was phosphorylated almost exclusively. We conclude that the phosphorylation of a single Ser residue in the Pro-rich region negatively regulates the assembly-promoting activity of MAP4.
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PMID:Site-specific phosphorylation by protein kinase C inhibits assembly-promoting activity of microtubule-associated protein 4. 189 37

A polyclonal antiserum raised against a HeLa cell microtubule-associated protein of Mr 210,000 (210 kD MAP or MAP4), an abundant non-neuronal MAP, was used to isolate cDNA clones encoding MAP4 from a human fetal brain lambda gt11 cDNA expression library. The largest of these clones, pMAP4.245, contains an insert of 4.1 kb and encodes a 245 kD beta-galactosidase fusion protein. Evidence that pMAP4.245 encodes MAP4 sequences includes immunoabsorption of MAP4 antibodies with the pMAP4.245 fusion protein, as well as identity of protein sequences obtained from HeLa 210 kD MAP4 with amino acid sequences encoded by pMAP4.245. The MAP4.245 cDNA hybridizes to several large (approximately 6-9 kb) transcripts on Northern blots of HeLa cell RNA. DNA sequencing of overlapping MAP4 cDNA clones revealed a long open reading frame containing a C-terminal region with three imperfect 18-amino acid repeats; this region is homologous to a motif present in the microtubule (MT)-binding domain of two prominent neuronal MAPs, MAP2 and tau. The pMAP4.245 sequence also encoded a series of unrelated repeats, located in the MAP's projection domain, N-terminal to the MT-binding domain. MAP4.245 fusion proteins bound to MTs in vitro, while fusion proteins that contained only the projection domain repeats failed to bind specifically to MTs. Thus, the major human non-neuronal MAP resembles two neuronal MAPs in its MT-binding domain, while most of the molecule has sequences, and presumably functions, distinct from those of the neuronal MAPs.
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PMID:Non-neuronal 210 x 10(3) Mr microtubule-associated protein (MAP4) contains a domain homologous to the microtubule-binding domains of neuronal MAP2 and tau. 190 96

Kinesin from porcine brain was prepared by a procedure based on the strong binding of the protein to microtubules in the presence of sodium fluoride and ATP. The protocol reduces the requirement for taxol and AMP-PNP. The kinesin is active in terms of its ability to move microtubules on glass slides and its ATPase. The ATPase of this kinesin is about 8 nmol/min/mg; it is activated to 19 nmol/min/mg in the presence of microtubules. The relationship between gliding velocity and ATP concentration follows Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Using the motility assay, the maximal velocity is 0.78 micron/sec, and the Km value is 150 microM for ATP. For GTP the corresponding values are 0.38 micron/sec and 1.7 mM. ADP is a competitive inhibitor (Ki = 0.29 mM). Crude preparations of kinesin do not support motility on glass slides, whereas gel-filtered kinesin does. A search for potential inhibitory factors showed that one of them is MAP2; however, its inhibitory effect becomes visible only in certain conditions. MAP2 bound to microtubules does not inhibit kinesin-induced motility. However, when MAP2 and kinesin are preadsorbed to the glass surface independently of microtubules, MAP2 prevents the interaction of kinesin with microtubules, as if it formed a "lawn" that acted as a spacer and thus repelled the MAP-free microtubules or crosslinked the MAP-containing ones. The repelling effect of MAP2 domains (projection or assembly fragments obtained by chymotryptic cleavage) added separately is less pronounced and can be overcome by kinesin. These results reinforce the view of MAP2 as a spacer molecule.
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PMID:Interaction between kinesin, microtubules, and microtubule-associated protein 2. 253 84

MAPs (microtubule-associated proteins) were isolated from crayfish walking leg nerves. A major MAP was identified as a high molecular weight protein (270K). This protein co-migrated with mammalian MAP2, stimulated the polymerization of rat brain tubulin into microtubules, and was heat resistant. Rotary shadowing revealed that the 270K MAP is a long thin flexible structure. It formed cross-bridges of fine strands, linking microtubules with each other in vitro. These strands resemble the cross-bridges between microtubules observed in the crayfish axon permeabilized with saponin and quick-frozen, deep-etched. Antibodies against mammalian MAP2 cross-reacted with this crayfish MAP and stained the axoplasm of the walking leg nerves. Thus MAPs, especially the 270K MAP, appear to be a major component of the cross-linking strands between microtubules observed in the crayfish axon.
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PMID:270K microtubule-associated protein cross-reacting with anti-MAP2 IgG in the crayfish peripheral nerve axon. 372 68


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