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Published online 5 September 2006. doi:10.1083/jcb.200606074
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $8.00
JCB, Volume 174, Number 6, 759-765
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Luminal particles within cellular microtubules



Boyan K. Garvalov1, Benoît Zuber2, Cédric Bouchet-Marquis2, Mikhail Kudryashev3, Manuela Gruska4, Martin Beck4, Andrew Leis4, Friedrich Frischknecht3, Frank Bradke1, Wolfgang Baumeister4, Jacques Dubochet2, and Marek Cyrklaff4

1 Axonal Growth and Regeneration Group, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, 82152 Martinsried, Germany
2 Laboratory for Ultrastructural Analysis, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
3 Department of Parasitology, Hygiene Institute, Heidelberg University School of Medicine, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
4 Department of Structural Biology, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, 82152 Martinsried, Germany

Correspondence to Marek Cyrklaff: cyrklaff{at}biochem.mpg.de

The regulation of microtubule dynamics is attributed to microtubule-associated proteins that bind to the microtubule outer surface, but little is known about cellular components that may associate with the internal side of microtubules. We used cryoelectron tomography to investigate in a quantitative manner the three dimensional structure of microtubules in intact mammalian cells. We show that the lumen of microtubules in this native state is filled with discrete, globular particles with a diameter of 7 nm and spacings between 8 and 20 nm in neuronal cells. Cross-sectional views of microtubules confirm the presence of luminal material in vitreous sections of brain tissue. Most of the luminal particles had connections to the microtubule wall, as revealed in tomograms. A higher accumulation of particles was seen near the retracting plus ends of microtubules. The luminal particles were abundant in neurons, but were also observed in other cells, such as astrocytes and stem cells.

B. Zuber and C. Bouchet-Marquis contributed equally to this paper.

Abbreviations used in this paper: CCD, charged-couple device; CEMOVIS, cryoelectron microscopy of vitreous sections; cryo-ET, cryoelectron tomography; CTF, contrast transfer function; MAP, microtubule-associated protein.


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