YB-1 promotes microtubule assembly in vitro through interaction with tubulin and microtubules

Konstantin G. Chernov (1, 2) , Alain Mechulam (1) , Nadezhda Popova , David Pastre (1) , Elena Nadezhdina , Olga Skabkina , Nina Shanina (3) , Viktor Vasiliev , Anne Couturier-Tarrade (1) , Judith Melki , Vandana Joshi (1) , Sonia Baconnais (4) , Flavio Toma (1) , Lev Ovchinnikov , Patrick A. Curmi (1)

1 SABNP - Structure et activité des biomolécules normales et pathologiques
2 Institute of Protein Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino
3 MSU - Lomonosov Moscow State University
4 IMC (UMR 8126) - Interactions moléculaires et cancer

BACKGROUND: YB-1 is a major regulator of gene expression in eukaryotic cells. In addition to its role in transcription, YB-1 plays a key role in translation and stabilization of mRNAs.RESULTS: We show here that YB-1 interacts with tubulin and microtubules and stimulates microtubule assembly in vitro. High resolution imaging via electron and atomic force microscopy revealed that microtubules assembled in the presence of YB-1 exhibited a normal single wall ultrastructure and indicated that YB-1 most probably coats the outer microtubule wall. Furthermore, we found that YB-1 also promotes the assembly of MAPs-tubulin and subtilisin-treated tubulin. Finally, we demonstrated that tubulin interferes with RNA:YB-1 complexes.CONCLUSION: These results suggest that YB-1 may regulate microtubule assembly in vivo and that its interaction with tubulin may contribute to the control of mRNA translation

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]

Konstantin G. Chernov, Alain Mechulam, Nadezhda Popova, David Pastre, Elena Nadezhdina, et al.. YB-1 promotes microtubule assembly in vitro through interaction with tubulin and microtubules. BMC Biochemistry, 2008, 9 (1), pp.23. ⟨10.1186/1471-2091-9-23⟩. ⟨hal-02166798⟩