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EMBO reports 4, 1, 94–99 (2003)
doi:10.1038/sj.embor.embor716
Published online: January 2003
The two  -tubulin isotypes in budding yeast have opposing effects on microtubule dynamics in vitro
Claudia J. Bode, Mohan L. Gupta, Kathy A. Suprenant & Richard H. Himes
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Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA
To whom correspondence should be addressed
Richard H. Himes Tel: +1 785 864 3813; Fax: +1 785 864 5321; himes@ku.edu
Received 16 September 2002; Accepted 8 November 2002.
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Abstract
The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has two genes for -tubulin, TUB1 and TUB3, and one  -tubulin gene, TUB2. The gene product of TUB3, Tub3, represents  10% of -tubulin in the cell. We determined the effects of the two -tubulin isotypes on microtubule dynamics in vitro. Tubulin was purified from wild-type and deletion strains lacking either Tub1 or Tub3, and parameters of microtubule dynamics were examined. Microtubules containing Tub3 as the only -tubulin isotype were less dynamic than wild-type microtubules, as shown by a shrinkage rate and catastrophe frequency that were about one-third of that for wild-type microtubules. Conversely, microtubules containing Tub1 as the only -tubulin isotype were more dynamic than wild-type microtubules, as shown by a shrinkage rate that was 50% higher and a catastrophe frequency that was 30% higher than those of wild-type microtubules. The results suggest that a role of Tub3 in budding yeast is to control microtubule dynamics.
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