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Tyrosine phosphorylation of plant tubulin

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Abstract

Phosphorylation of αβ-tubulins dimers by protein tyrosine kinases plays an important role in the regulation of cellular growth and differentiation in animal cells. In plants, however, the role of tubulin tyrosine phosphorylation is unknown and data on this tubulin modification are limited. In this study, we used an immunochemical approach to demonstrate that tubulin isolated by both immunoprecipitation and DEAE-chromatography is phosphorylated on tyrosine residues in cultured cells of Nicotiana tabacum. This opens up the possibility that tyrosine phosphorylation of tubulin could be involved in modulating the properties of plant microtubules.

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Acknowledgments

The work was funded partially by NATO LST.CLG 979212 for Alla Yemets and Clive Lloyd, and by INTAS Grant 03-51-6459 for Alla Yemets, Yaroslav Blume, Pavel Dráber and Vadym Sulimenko. The work of Tetyana Sulimenko, Vadym Sulimenko and Pavel Dráber was also supported from project LC545 (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of Czech Republic) Grant No. 204/05/2375 from GACR and by Institutional Research support AVOZ 50520514. Alla Yemets was supported from INTAS Experienced Postdoctoral Fellowship for Young Scientists YSF 00-184. Clive Lloyd and Jordi Chan were funded by the BBSRC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Cell Biology and Genetic Engineering, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Acad. Zabolotny Str., 148, 03680, Kiev, Ukraine

    Yaroslav Blume & Alla Yemets

  2. Institute of Molecular Genetics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Building LB, Videnska 1083, 142 20, Prague 4, Czech Republic

    Vadym Sulimenko, Tetyana Sulimenko & Pavel Dráber

  3. Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, John Innes Centre, Norwich, NR4 7UH, UK

    Jordi Chan & Clive Lloyd

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  1. Yaroslav Blume
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  2. Alla Yemets
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  3. Vadym Sulimenko
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  4. Tetyana Sulimenko
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  6. Clive Lloyd
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Correspondence to Yaroslav Blume.

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Blume, Y., Yemets, A., Sulimenko, V. et al. Tyrosine phosphorylation of plant tubulin. Planta 229, 143–150 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-008-0816-z

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