Identification and localization of a novel, cytoskeletal, centrosome-associated protein in PtK2 cells

Antisera raised against centrin (Salisbury, J.L., A.T. Baron, B. Surek, and M. Melkonian. 1984. J. Cell Biol. 99:962-970) have been used, here, to identify a centrosome-associated protein with an Mr of 165,000. Immunocytochemistry indicates that this protein is a component of pericentriolar satellites, basal feet, and pericentriolar matrix of interphase cells. These components of pericentriolar material are, in part, composed of 3-8-nm-diam filaments, which interconnect to form a three-dimensional pericentriolar lattice. We conclude that the 165,000-Mr protein is immunologically related to centrin, and that it is a component of a novel centrosome-associated cytoskeletal filament system. Microtubule organizing centers such as the flagellar apparatus of algal cells, spindle pole body of yeast cells, and centrosome of mammalian cells are homologous structures essential for cytoplasmic organization and cellular proliferation. Molecular cloning studies have recently shown that the cell cycle gene product CDC31, required for spindle pole body duplication, shares 50% sequence homology with centrin (Huang, B., A. Mengersen, and V.D. Lee. 1988. J. Cell Biol. 107:133-140). The evolutionary conservation of centrin-related sequences and immunologic epitopes to microtubule organizing centers of divergent phylogeny suggests that a functional attribute(s) may have been conserved as well. Elucidation of a common thread between these related molecules may be fundamental to our understanding of cell structure and function.