J Mol Biol 1999 Mar 26;287(2):287-92

Motor protein decoration of microtubules grown in high salt conditions reveals the presence of mixed lattices.

Dias DP, Milligan RA

Department of Cell Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.

We have used back-projection methods to obtain three-dimensional maps of motor-protein decorated nine and ten protofilament microtubules polymerized in the presence of high salt and preserved in vitreous ice. The resulting three-dimensional maps show that the vast majority of these microtubules have multiple seams, rather than being helical as would be expected according to the lattice accommodation model. These results indicate that microtubules should be analyzed by back-projection before using helical reconstruction approaches, and that nine and ten protofilament microtubules polymerized in high salt conditions a re not suitable for helical analysis. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

PMID: 10080892, UI: 99182417

Back to abstracts list.