Identification of a microtubule-binding domain in a cytoplasmic dynein heavy chain

As a molecular motor, dynein must coordinate ATP hydrolysis with conformational changes that lead to processive interactions with a microtubule and generate force. To understand how these processes occur, we have begun to map functional domains of a dynein heavy chain from Dictyostelium. The carboxyl-terminal 10-kilobase region of the heavy chain encodes a 380-kDa polypeptide that approximates the globular head domain. Attempts to further truncate this region fail to produce polypeptides that either bind microtubules or UV-vanadate cleave, indicating that the entire 10-kilobase fragment is necessary to produce a properly folded functional dynein head. We have further identified a region just downstream from the fourth P-loop that appears to constitute at least part of the microtubule-binding domain (amino acids 3182-3818). When deleted, the resulting head domain polypeptide no longer binds microtubules; when the excised region is expressed in vitro, it cosediments with added tubulin polymer. This microtubule-binding domain falls within an area of the molecule predicted to form extended alpha-helices. At least four discrete sites appear to coordinate activities required to bind the tubulin polymer, indicating that the interaction of dynein with microtubules is complex.