The structure of the tektin-tubulin protofilament ribbon.

摘要

The core of the eukaryotic flagellum is the axoneme, a complex motile organelle composed of {dollar}sim 200{dollar} different polypeptides. The most prominent components of the axoneme are the central pair and nine outer doublet microtubules. Each doublet microtubule contains an A-tubule and a B-tubule; these are composed, respectively of 13 and 10 protofilaments, all of which are thought to be composed of tubulin. The mechanisms that control the assembly of the doublet microtubules and establish the periodic spacings of associated proteins, such as dynein arms and radial spokes, are unknown. Tektins, a set of microtubule-associated proteins, are present in the axoneme as stable filaments that remain after the extraction of doublet microtubules; they are located near to where the B-tubule attaches to the A-tubule and near to the binding sites for radial spokes, inner dynein arms and nexin links. Tektin filaments may contribute in an interesting way to the structural properties of axonemes.; I have fractionated doublet microtubules from sea urchin sperm flagella into ribbons of stable protofilaments, which can be shown to originate from the A-tubule. Using cryo-electron microscopy, conventional electron microscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, three-dimensional reconstruction and kinesin decoration, I have found that one protofilament in the ribbon is not composed of tubulin. This protofilament is an integral protofilament of the A-tubule wall, has less mass per unit length than tubulin and does not bind kinesin.; Contrary to what is generally assumed, at least one protofilament in the wall of the A-tubule is not composed of tubulin. The data suggest that this non-tubulin protofilament is primarily composed of tektins, proteins that show some structural similarity to intermediate filament proteins. A 480A axial periodicity within these ribbons, revealed by scanning transmission electron microscopy, can be related to the structure of tektin, and may determine the large-scale structure of the axoneme in terms of the binding of dynein, nexin and radial spokes to the doublet microtubule.