%0 Journal Article %A Tatsuo Suzuki %A Nobuo Terada %A Shigeki Higashiyama %A Kiyokazu Kametani %A Yoshinori Shirai %A Mamoru Honda %A Tsutomu Kai %A Weidong Li %A Katsuhiko Tabuchi %T Non-microtubule tubulin-based backbone and subordinate components of postsynaptic density lattices %D 2021 %R 10.26508/lsa.202000945 %J Life Science Alliance %P e202000945 %V 4 %N 7 %X A purification protocol was developed to identify and analyze the component proteins of a postsynaptic density (PSD) lattice, a core structure of the PSD of excitatory synapses in the central nervous system. “Enriched”- and “lean”-type PSD lattices were purified by synaptic plasma membrane treatment to identify the protein components by comprehensive shotgun mass spectrometry and group them into minimum essential cytoskeleton (MEC) and non-MEC components. Tubulin was found to be a major component of the MEC, with non-microtubule tubulin widely distributed on the purified PSD lattice. The presence of tubulin in and around PSDs was verified by post-embedding immunogold labeling EM of cerebral cortex. Non-MEC proteins included various typical scaffold/adaptor PSD proteins and other class PSD proteins. Thus, this study provides a new PSD lattice model consisting of non-microtubule tubulin-based backbone and various non-MEC proteins. Our findings suggest that tubulin is a key component constructing the backbone and that the associated components are essential for the versatile functions of the PSD. %U https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/lsa/4/7/e202000945.full.pdf