Link to bioRxiv paper:
http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.02.14.528553v1?rss=1

Authors: Kubo, T., Tani, Y., Yanagisawa, H., Kikkawa, M., Oda, T.

Abstract:
- and {beta}-tubulin have an unstructured glutamate-rich region at their C-terminal tails (CTT). The function of this region in cilia/flagella is still unclear, except that glutamates in CTT act as the sites for posttranslational modifications that affect ciliary motility. A unicellular alga Chlamydomonas possesses only two -tubulin genes and two {beta}-tubulin genes, each pair encoding an identical protein. This simple gene organization may enable a complete replacement of the wild-type tubulin with its mutated version. Here, using CRISPR/Cas9, we generated mutants expressing tubulins with modified CTTs. We found that the mutant whose four glutamate residues in the -tubulin CTT have been replaced by alanine almost completely lacked polyglutamylated tubulin and displayed paralyzed cilia. In contrast, the mutant lacking the glutamate-rich region of the {beta}-tubulin CTT assembled short cilia without the central apparatus. This phenotype is similar to the mutants harboring a mutation in a subunit of katanin, whose function has been shown to depend on the {beta}-tubulin CTT. Therefore, our study reveals distinct and important roles of - and {beta}-tubulin CTT in the formation and function of cilia.

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