Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0012739 (disseminated intravascular coagulation)
 8,673 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We have used video-enhanced DIC microscopy to examine the effects of XMAP, a Mr 215,000 microtubule-associated protein from Xenopus eggs (Gard, D.L., and M. W. Kirschner. 1987. J. Cell Biol. 105:2203-2215), on the dynamic instability of microtubules nucleated from axoneme fragments in vitro. Our results indicate that XMAP substantially alters the parameters of microtubule assembly at plus ends. Specifically, addition of 0.2 microM XMAP resulted in (a) 7-10-fold increase in elongation velocity, (b) approximately threefold increase in shortening velocity, and (c) near elimination of rescue (the switch from rapid shortening to elongation). Thus, addition of XMAP resulted in the assembly of longer, but more dynamic, microtubules from the plus ends of axonemes which upon catastrophe disassembled back to the axoneme nucleation site. In agreement with previous observations (Gard, D.L., and M. W. Kirschner. 1987. J. Cell Biol. 105:2203-2215), the effects of XMAP on the minus end were much less dramatic, with only a 1.5-3-fold increase in elongation velocity. These results indicate that XMAP, unlike brain MAPs, promotes both polymer assembly and turnover, and suggests that the interaction of XMAP with tubulin and the function of XMAP in vivo may differ from previously characterized MAPs.
 ...
PMID:XMAP from Xenopus eggs promotes rapid plus end assembly of microtubules and rapid microtubule polymer turnover. 796 80

The growth and shortening of microtubules in dynamic instability is known to be modulated by microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs). A full understanding of the mechanism of dynamic instability requires that one distinguish which of its aspects are mediated by microtubule-associated proteins (even in small residual concentrations) and which are intrinsic properties of the tubulin lattice itself. This paper addresses two of those aspects: whether MAPs cause the rescue events of dynamic instability (i.e., the transitions from shortening to growth) and whether MAPs are responsible for the marked variability of the rates at which microtubules grow and shorten. Very pure tubulin was prepared by sequential chromatographies on phosphocellulose and DEAE-Sephadex. Analysis by electrophoresis and immunoblotting showed it to be essentially MAP-free; it contained fewer than one MAP molecule per 10000 tubulin dimers. When its dynamic instability was studied by video-DIC microscopy, rescues were found to occur at a mean frequency of one per 4 microns of shortening. Variability of rates of growth and shortening, which is observed on the length scale of a few micrometers, was not changed by removal of MAPs. Because the mean distance between bound MAP molecules was calculated to be greater than 14 microns in these experiments, it is concluded that they cannot cause either rescue or variability of rates.
 ...
PMID:Dynamic instability of microtubules assembled from microtubule-associated protein-free tubulin: neither variability of growth and shortening rates nor "rescue" requires microtubule-associated proteins. 888 45

XMAP215, a microtubule-associated protein isolated from Xenopus eggs, promotes microtubule assembly dynamics in an end-specific manner: addition of XMAP215 to purified porcine tubulin increases both elongation and shortening rates at microtubule plus ends, with minimal effects at minus ends. Previous results indicated that XMAP215 is phosphorylated during M phase, suggesting that its activity may be regulated by cell cycle phosphorylation. To test this hypothesis, we used video-enhanced DIC microscopy to examine the effects of XMAP215 phosphorylated by CDK1 on the assembly of purified tubulin. XMAP215 incubated with ATP at 30 degrees C for 10- 20 min in the absence of CDK1 exhibited a 4.1-fold increase in plus end elongation rate compared to purified tubulin. Elongation was promoted to a lesser degree (2.4-fold) by phosphorylated XMAP215. In contrast, XMAP215 phosphorylation did not alter the approximately 3-fold increase in shortening rate. XMAP215 binding to taxol microtubules was also not changed by phosphorylation. To further investigate mechanisms responsible for the faster microtubule shortening rate observed with XMAP215, we made microtubules with segments assembled prior to XMAP215 addition (proximal segments) and segments assembled in the presence of XMAP215 (distal segments). In 9 of 10 microtubules, the distal segment shortened faster (distal = 60.7 microm/min; proximal = 37.5 microm/min), suggesting that MTs assembled in the presence of XMAP215 have an altered lattice that results in subsequent faster shortening.
 ...
PMID:Phosphorylation by CDK1 regulates XMAP215 function in vitro. 1042 72

Microtubules are major constituents of the cytoskeleton which display dynamic properties. They exhibit dynamic instability which is defined as the stochastic switching between growing and shortening at microtubule ends. Dynamic instability plays an important role in diverse cellular functions including cell migration and mitosis. Many successful antimitotic drugs and microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) are known to modulate microtubule dynamics, and it is important to analyze the in vitro dynamic instability of microtubules to study the mechanism of action of microtubule-targeted therapeutics and MAPs. In this chapter, we describe a method to analyze the in vitro dynamic instability of microtubules at steady state using video-enhanced differential contrast (VE-DIC) microscopy in detail. In this method, microtubules are assembled to steady state at 30 degrees C with MAP-free tubulin in a slide chamber in the presence of GTP, using sea urchin axonemes as nucleating seeds. Images of microtubules are enhanced and recorded in real time by a video camera and an image processor connected to a DIC microscope which is maintained at 30 degrees C. We use two software programs to track and analyze the growing and shortening of plus or minus ends of microtubules in the real-time images recorded using VE-DIC. In this chapter, we describe the instructions to use the tracking software Real Time Measurement II (RTM II) program. The instructions to use the analysis software Microtubule Life History Analysis Procedures (MT-LHAP) in Igor Pro software have been described in detail in an appendix (Oroudjev, 2010) following this chapter.
 ...
PMID:Analysis of dynamic instability of steady-state microtubules in vitro by video-enhanced differential interference contrast microscopy with an appendix by Emin Oroudjev. 2046 36