Dissecting the cellular functions of plant microtubules using mutant tubulins

Abstract

α- and β-tubulins, the building blocks of the microtubule (MT) polymer, are encoded by multiple genes that are largely functionally redundant in plants. Null tubulin mutants are thus phenotypically indistinguishable from the wild type, but miss-sense or deletion mutations of critical amino acid residues that are important for the assembly, stability, or dynamics of the polymer disrupt the proper organization and function of the resultant MT arrays. Mutant tubulins co-assemble with wild-type tubulins into mutant MTs with compromised functions, and thus mechanistically act as dominant-negative MT poisons. Cortical MT arrays in interphase plant cells are most sensitive to tubulin mutations, and are transformed into helical structures or random orientation, which produce twisted or radially swollen cells. Mutant plants resistant to MT-targeted herbicides may possess tubulin mutations at the binding sites of the herbicides. Tubulin mutants are valuable tools for investigating how individual MTs are organized into particular patterns in cortical arrays, and for defining the functional contribution of MTs to various MT-dependent or -assisted cellular processes in plant cells.