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Originally published in Science Express on 16 October 2008
Science 28 November 2008:
Vol. 322. no. 5906, pp. 1353 - 1356
DOI: 10.1126/science.1165401
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Research Articles

Detection of GTP-Tubulin Conformation in Vivo Reveals a Role for GTP Remnants in Microtubule Rescues

Ariane Dimitrov,1,2* Mélanie Quesnoit,1,2,3* Sandrine Moutel,2,4 Isabelle Cantaloube,3 Christian Poüs,3,5{dagger} Franck Perez1,2{dagger}{ddagger}

Microtubules display dynamic instability, with alternating phases of growth and shrinkage separated by catastrophe and rescue events. The guanosine triphosphate (GTP) cap at the growing end of microtubules, whose presence is essential to prevent microtubule catastrophes in vitro, has been difficult to observe in vivo. We selected a recombinant antibody that specifically recognizes GTP-bound tubulin in microtubules and found that GTP-tubulin was indeed present at the plus end of growing microtubules. Unexpectedly, GTP-tubulin remnants were also present in older parts of microtubules, which suggests that GTP hydrolysis is sometimes incomplete during polymerization. Observations in living cells suggested that these GTP remnants may be responsible for the rescue events in which microtubules recover from catastrophe.

1 CNRS UMR144, Institut Curie, 26 rue d'Ulm, 75248 Paris Cedex 05, France.
2 Institut Curie, Centre de Recherche, 26 rue d'Ulm, 75248 Paris Cedex 05, France.
3 Biochimie et Biologie Cellulaire–JE2493, Université Paris-Sud 11, IFR141–Faculté de Pharmacie, 92296 Châtenay-Malabry, France.
4 Institut Curie, Translational Research Department, 26 rue d'Ulm, 75248 Paris Cedex 05, France.
5 Biochimie-Hormonologie, AP-HP, Hôpital Antoine Béclère, 92141 Clamart, France.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} These authors contributed equally to this work.

{ddagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: franck.perez{at}curie.fr

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