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Mol Cell Biol. 1991 September; 11(9): 4726-4731

A codon change in beta-tubulin which drastically affects microtubule structure in Drosophila melanogaster fails to produce a significant phenotype in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

V Praitis, W S Katz and F Solomon

Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.

ABSTRACT

The relative uniformity of microtubule ultrastructure in almost all eukaryotic cells is thought to be a consequence of the conserved elements of tubulin sequence. In support of this idea, a mutation in a beta-tubulin gene of Drosophila melanogaster, occurring at a highly conserved position, produces U-shaped microtubules, suggesting a defect in either nucleation or packing during assembly (M. T. Fuller, J. H. Caulton, J. A. Hutchens, T. C. Kaufman, and E. C. Raff, J. Cell Biol. 104:385-394, 1987, and J. E. Rudolph, M. Kimble, H. D. Hoyle, M. A. Subler, and E. C. Raff, Mol. Cell. Biol. 7:2231-2242, 1987). Surprisingly, we find that introducing the same mutation into the sole beta-tubulin gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has virtually no consequences for microtubule structure or function in that organism.

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Mol Cell Biol. 1991 September; 11(9): 4726-4731

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