Abstract
THE microtubule cytoskeleton of animal cells does not assemble spontaneously, but instead requires the centrosome. This organelle consists of a pair of centrioles surrounded by a complex collection of proteins known as the pericentriolar material (PCM)1. The PCM is required for microtubule nucleation2. The minus, or slow-growing, ends of microtubules are embedded in the PCM and the plus, or fast-growing, ends project outwards into the cytoplasm during interphase, or into the spindle apparatus during mitosis, γ-Tubulin is the only component of the PCM that is so far implicated in microtubule nucleation3–6. Here we use immuno-electron microscopic tomography to show that γ-tubulin is localized in ring structures in the PCM of purified centrosomes without microtubules. When these centrosomes are used to nucleate microtubule growth, γ-tubulin is localized at the minus ends of the microtubules. We conclude that microtubule-nucleating sites within the PCM are ring-shaped templates that contain multiple copies of γ-tubulin.
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Moritz, M., Braunfeld, M., Sedat, J. et al. Microtubule nucleation by γ-tubulin-containing rings in the centrosome. Nature 378, 638–640 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/378638a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/378638a0
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