Drosophila katanin is a microtubule depolymerase that regulates cortical-microtubule plus-end interactions and cell migration

Authors:
Open Access
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The microtubule-severing protein Katanin is now shown to possess microtubule depolymerising activity. Purified recombinant Katanin exerts both activities in vitro. In migrating cells from Drosophila, Katanin localizes at the leading edge where it negatively regulates cell motility. Regulation of microtubule dynamics at the cell cortex is important for cell motility, morphogenesis and division. Here we show that the Drosophila katanin Dm-Kat60 functions to generate a dynamic cortical-microtubule interface in interphase cells. Dm-Kat60 concentrates at the cell cortex of S2 Drosophila cells during interphase, where it suppresses the polymerization of microtubule plus-ends, thereby preventing the formation of aberrantly dense cortical arrays. Dm-Kat60 also localizes at the leading edge of migratory D17 Drosophila cells and negatively regulates multiple parameters of their motility. Finally, in vitro, Dm-Kat60 severs and depolymerizes microtubules from their ends. On the basis of these data, we propose that Dm-Kat60 removes tubulin from microtubule lattice or microtubule ends that contact specific cortical sites to prevent stable and/or lateral attachments. The asymmetric distribution of such an activity could help generate regional variations in microtubule behaviours involved in cell migration.

This publication has 57 references indexed in Scilit: