Two kinesins from Arabidopsis, KatB and KatC, have a second microtubule-binding site in the tail domain

J Biochem Mol Biol. 2007 Jan 31;40(1):44-52. doi: 10.5483/bmbrep.2007.40.1.044.

Abstract

Kinesins, as a kind of microtubule-based motor proteins, have a conserved microtubule-binding site in their motor domain. Here we report that two homologous kinesins in Arabidopsis thaliana, KatB and KatC, contain a second microtubule-binding site in their tail domains. The prokaryotic-expressed N-terminal tail domain of the KatC heavy chain can bind to microtubules in an ATP-insensitive manner. To identify the precise region responsible for the binding, a serious of truncated KatC cDNAs encoding KatC N-terminal regions in different lengths, KatC1-128, KatC1-86, KatC1-73 and KatC1-63, fused to Histidine-tags, were expressed in E. coli and affinity-purified. Microtubule cosedimentation assays show that the site at amino acid residues 74-86 in KatC is important for microtubulebinding. By similarity, we obtained three different lengths of KatB N-terminal regions, KatB1-384, KatB1-77, and KatB1-63, and analyzed their microtubule-binding ability. Cosedimentation assays indicate that the KatB tail domain can also bind to microtubules at the same site as and in a similar manner to KatC. Fluorescence microscopic observations show that the microtubule-binding site at the tail domain of KatB or KatC can induce microtubules bundling only when the stalk domain is present. Through pull-down assays, we show that KatB1-385 and KatC1-394 are able to interact specifically with themselves and with each other in vitro. These findings are significant for identifying a previously uncharacterized microtubule-binding site in the two kinesin proteins, KatB and KatC, and the functional relations between them.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenosine Triphosphate / physiology
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Arabidopsis
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / chemistry*
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / metabolism
  • Binding Sites
  • Cattle
  • Kinesins / chemistry*
  • Kinesins / metabolism
  • Microtubules / metabolism*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Peptide Fragments / metabolism
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid

Substances

  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Adenosine Triphosphate
  • KatB protein, Arabidopsis
  • KatC protein, Arabidopsis
  • Kinesins