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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/2002/7/192-a $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 158, Number 2, July 22, 2002 192-a-192

A glue for microtubule cargos

Golgi membranes (yellow) move after encountering microtubule-bound GFP-p150Glued.

Vaughan et al., reporting on page 305, have used live-cell imaging to characterize the dynamic interactions of dynactin with growing microtubule plus-ends. The results provide substantial new insights into the regulation of these interactions, and suggest a new model for organelle transport and anchoring.

Previous work identified the p150^Glued subunit of dynactin as a specific binding partner for cytoplasmic dynein. To characterize this protein further, the authors tracked GFP-tagged p150^Glued using time-lapse imaging. P150^Glued associated with growing microtubule plus-ends to form "comet tails," which reflect binding followed by delayed release. The delay suggests that p150^Glued binding to the growing plus-ends may be followed by multiple molecular events at the microtubule tip, including the phosphorylation of p150^Glued that mediates its release.

Contact of p150^Glued comet tails with Golgi-derived membranes was correlated with the initiation of transport of these membranes. Vaughan et al. propose that growing microtubules probe the cytoplasm for organelles in need of transport. Dynactin on the organelles captures the microtubules, and also recruits motor proteins through its specific interaction with cytoplasmic dynein. A similar search-and-capture model has been proposed for kinetochore–microtubule interactions, potentially revealing a universal mechanism for microtubule-based transport.

Alan W. Dove

alanwdove{at}earthlink.net

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A role for regulated binding of p150^Glued to microtubule plus ends in organelle transport

Patricia S. Vaughan, Pedro Miura, Matthew Henderson, Belinda Byrne, and Kevin T. Vaughan
J. Cell Biol. 2002 158: 305-319. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This Article Full Text (PDF, 440K) PPT slides of all figures Alert me when this article is cited Services Email this article Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new content in the JCB Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Dove, A. W. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Dove, A. W. Related Collections Related Article Social Bookmarking                            What's this?