A marginal band-associated protein has properties of both microtubule- and microfilament-associated proteins.
Open Access
- 1 October 1989
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Rockefeller University Press in The Journal of cell biology
- Vol. 109 (4), 1609-1620
- https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.109.4.1609
Abstract
The marginal band of nucleated erythrocytes is a microtubule organelle under rigorous quantitative and spatial control, with properties quite different from those of the microtubule organelles of cultured cells. Previous results suggest that proteins other than tubulin may participate in organizing the marginal band, and may interact with elements of the erythrocyte cytoskeleton in addition to microtubules. To identify such species, we raised mAbs against the proteins that assemble from chicken brain homogenates with tubulin. One such antibody binds to a single protein in chicken erythrocytes, and produces an immunofluorescence pattern colocalizing with marginal band microtubules. Several properties of this protein are identical to those of ezrin, a protein isolated from brush border and localized to motile elements of cultured cells. A significant proportion of the antigen is not soluble in erythrocytes, as determined by extraction with nonionic detergent. This cytoskeleton-associated fraction is unaffected by treatments that solubilize the marginal band microtubules. The protein has properties of both microtubule- and microfilament-associated proteins. In the accompanying manuscript (Goslin, K., E. Birgbauer, G. Banker, and F. Solomon. 1989. J. Cell Biol. 109:1621-1631), we show that the same antibody recognizes a component of growth cones with a similar dual nature. In early embryonic red blood cells, the antigen is dispersed throughout the cell and does not colocalize with assembled tubulin. Its confinement to the marginal band during development follows rather than precedes that of microtubules. These results, along with previous work, suggest models for the formation of the marginal band.Keywords
This publication has 40 references indexed in Scilit:
- The role of cytoskeleton in organizing growth cones: a microfilament-associated growth cone component depends upon microtubules for its localization.The Journal of cell biology, 1989
- Intracellular localization of the high molecular weight microtubule accessory protein by indirect immunofluorescence.The Journal of cell biology, 1978
- Immunoflourescent staining of cytoplasmic and spindle microtubules in mouse fibroblasts with antibody to tau protein.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1977
- Evidence for a correlation between the number of marginal band microtubules and the size of vertebrate erythrocytesJournal of Cell Science, 1976
- Continuous cultures of fused cells secreting antibody of predefined specificityNature, 1975
- PURIFICATION OF TUBULIN AND ASSOCIATED HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT PROTEINS FROM PORCINE BRAIN AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MICROTUBULE ASSEMBLY IN VITRO*Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1975
- A protein factor essential for microtubule assembly.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1975
- Cleavage of Structural Proteins during the Assembly of the Head of Bacteriophage T4Nature, 1970
- A comparative study of microtubules of disk-shaped blood cellsJournal of Ultrastructure Research, 1970
- Microtubules in disk-shaped blood cells.1970