Chicken microtubule-associated protein 4 (MAP4): a novel member of the MAP4 family

Chicken gizzard smooth muscle has often been used as a source of proteins of the contractile and cytoskeletal apparatus. In the present study, we isolated a hitherto unknown doublet of proteins, with apparent molecular weights of 200 kDa, from embryonic chicken gizzard and showed its association with the microtubules (MTs) and by immunofluorescence staining of cultured cells. Immunoblot analysis also revealed the ubiquitous expression of this protein in all embryonic chicken tissues examined. Molecular cloning techniques allowed its identification as the chicken homologue of the microtubule-associated protein 4 (MAP4), known from mammalian species, and revealed approximately 90% of its amino acid sequence. MAP4 is the major MAP of non-neuronal tissues and cross-species comparisons clearly demonstrated its highly conserved overall structure, consisting of a basic C-terminal MT-binding region and an acidic N-terminal projection domain of unknown function. Despite these conserved features, overall sequence homologies to its mammalian counterparts are rather low and focused to distinct regions of the molecule. Among these are a conserved 18-amino acid motif, which is known to mediate binding to MTs and a part of the MT-binding domain known as the proline-rich region, which is thought to be the regulatory domain of MAP4. The N-terminal 59 amino acids are a conserved and unique feature of the MAP4 sequence and might be an indication that MAP4 performs other functions besides the enhancement of MT assembly.