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High-resolution Imaging and Analysis of Individual Astral Microtubule Dynamics in Budding Yeast
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Structure-function relationships in yeast tubulins

K L Richards1, K R Anders, E Nogales

  • 1Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

Molecular Biology of the Cell
|May 4, 2000
PubMed

Insights

Systematic mutations in the yeast alpha-tubulin gene (TUB1) reveal key insights into microtubule stability and drug interactions. These findings help understand benomyl sensitivity and potential drug binding sites.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Biochemistry

Background:

  • Tubulin is a critical protein for microtubule formation, essential for cell structure and division.
  • Alpha-tubulin (encoded by TUB1 in yeast) is a major component of microtubules, and its function is vital for cellular processes.
  • Understanding tubulin mutations is key to deciphering microtubule dynamics and drug responses.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To systematically investigate the effects of charged-to-alanine mutations in the yeast TUB1 gene.
  • To correlate specific TUB1 mutations with observed phenotypes, including drug sensitivity and temperature sensitivity.
  • To model the yeast alpha-beta-tubulin dimer and map mutation sites in relation to drug binding and protein interactions.

Main Methods:

  • Generation of clustered charged-to-alanine mutations in the TUB1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
  • Phenotypic analysis of mutant strains, including benomyl sensitivity/resistance, lethality, and temperature sensitivity.
  • Structural modeling of the yeast alpha-beta-tubulin dimer using bovine tubulin structures and mapping of mutation sites.

Main Results:

  • Observed phenotypes ranged from drug supersensitivity and resistance to lethality and temperature sensitivity.
  • Benomyl supersensitivity correlated with microtubule instability and was exacerbated by TUB3 deletion.
  • Modeling suggested a potential benomyl binding site in beta-tubulin and identified mutation clusters at subunit interfaces and Bim1p binding sites.

Conclusions:

  • Benomyl supersensitivity serves as an indicator of microtubule instability.
  • Mutations affecting microtubule stability are often located at subunit interfaces.
  • Proximity to the alpha-beta interface influences synthetic lethality interactions between tubulin alleles.

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