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Single-walled tubulin ring polymers.

Hacène Boukari1, Dan L Sackett, Peter Schuck

  • 1Laboratory of Integrative and Medical Biophysics, NICHD, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. boukarih@mail.nih.gov

Biopolymers
|May 8, 2007
PubMed
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Researchers discovered unique nanoscopic, ring-shaped biopolymers formed by mixing alphabeta-tubulin with marine peptides. These structures, characterized by physical techniques, offer insights into novel biomaterials.

Area of Science:

  • Biopolymer science
  • Nanotechnology
  • Structural biology

Background:

  • Alphabeta-tubulin self-assembles into various structures.
  • Certain marine peptides can influence tubulin polymerization.
  • Antimitotic properties of some peptides suggest potential cancer therapeutics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the formation of unusual nanoscopic, ring-shaped biopolymers from alphabeta-tubulin and specific peptides.
  • To illustrate the application of physical techniques for characterizing these novel structures.
  • To demonstrate methods for relating experimental data to structural models.

Main Methods:

  • Formation of single-walled biopolymer rings by mixing alphabeta-tubulin with peptides from marine organisms and cyanobacteria.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Characterization using scattering and hydrodynamic techniques: small angle neutron scattering (SANS), dynamic light scattering (DLS), fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), and sedimentation velocity (SV).
  • Mathematical and computational analysis to interpret scattering and hydrodynamic data for structural elucidation.

    • Main Results:

    • Formation of nanoscopic, single-ring biopolymers with molecular weights dependent on the specific peptide used (e.g., cryptophycin, dolastatin).
    • Sharp mass distributions observed, corresponding to specific numbers of tubulin dimers per ring (e.g., 8 with cryptophycin, 14 with dolastatin).
    • Demonstration that combining multiple techniques enhances structural discrimination and eliminates degeneracy in model interpretation.

    Conclusions:

    • Alphabeta-tubulin can form unique nanoscopic ring structures when co-polymerized with specific marine peptides.
    • Scattering and hydrodynamic techniques, coupled with rigorous data analysis, are effective for characterizing these complex biopolymers in solution.
    • The study provides a framework for understanding the structure and properties of these novel tubulin-based nanostructures.