An ATPase activity associated with brain microtubules

Abstract

A persistent ATPase/GTPase activity has been found to be associated with highly recycled bovine brain microtubules. A GTP regeneration system was introduced to minimize the inhibitory effects of this hydrolase on microtubule polymerization. The characteristics of the ATPase indicate that it is not involved in GTP-induced mictrotubule polymerization, but is directly involved in ATP-induced polymerization. ATP-induced polymerization was also shown to require stoichiometric amounts of GDP, but higher levels of GDP inhibited both microtubule formation and the ATPase activity. An ammonium sulfate fractionation procedure was devised to separate microtubule protein into an ATPase-rich fraction and a pure tubulin fraction. The pure tubulin fraction polymerized in the presence of GTP, but not in the presence of ATP and GDP. In contrast, the ATPase-rich fraction polymerized with either ATP or GTP. It is still not known whether the microtubule associated ATPase plays a significant role in cellular microtubule function.