Abstract
NEURONS develop a highly polarized morphology consisting of dendrites and a long axon. Both axons and dendrites contain microtubules and microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) with characteristic structures1. Among MAPs, MAP2 is specifically expressed in dendrites2 whereas MAP2C and tau are abundant in the axon2–5. But the influence of MAP2, MAP2C and tau on the organization of microtubule domains in dendrites versus axons is unknown. Both MAP2 and tau induce microtubule bundle formation in fibroblasts after transfection of complementary DNAs6,7, and a long process resembling an axon is extended in Sf9 cells infected with recombinant baculovirus expressing tau8,9. We have now expressed MAP2 and MAP2C in Sf9 cells in order to compare their morphology and the arrangement of their microtubules to that found in Sf9 cells expressing tau. We report here that the spacing between microtubules depends on the MAP expressed: in cells expressing MAP2, the distance is similar to that found in dendrites, whereas the spacing between microtubules in cells expressing MAP2C or tau is similar to that found in axons.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Hirokawa, N. in Neuronal Cytoskeleton (eds. R. D. Burgoyne) 5–74 (Wiley Liss, New York, 1991).
Bernhardt, R. & Matus, A. J. comp. Neurol. 226, 203–231 (1984).
Binder, L. I., Frankfurter, A. & Rebhun, L. I. J. Cell Biol. 101, 1371–1378 (1985).
Matus, A. A. Rev. Neurosci. 11, 29–44 (1988).
Nunez, J. Trends Neurosci. 11, 477–479 (1988).
Kanai, Y. et al. J. Cell Biol. 109, 1173–1184 (1989).
Lewis, S. A., Ivanov, I. E., Lee, G. H. & Cowan, N. J. Nature 342, 498–505 (1989).
Knops, J. et al. J. Cell Blol. 114, 725–733 (1991).
Baas, P. W., Pienkowski, T. P. & Kosik, K. S. J. Cell Biol. 115, 1333–1344 (1991).
Umeyama, T., Okabe, S., Kanai, Y. & Hirokawa, N. J. Cell Biol. (in the press).
Takeuchi, M., Hisanaga, S., Umeyama, T. & Hirokawa, N. J. Neurochem. 58, 1510–1516 (1992).
Goedert, M., Wischik, C. M., Crowther, R. A., Walker, J. E., & Klug, A. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 4051–5055 (1988).
Lee, G., Cowan, N. & Kirschner, M. W. Science 239, 285–288 (1988).
Aizawa, H. et al. J. biol. Chem. 263, 7703–7707 (1988).
Goedert, M., Spillantini, M. G., Potier, M. C., Ulrich, J. & Crowther, R. A. EMBO J. 8, 393–399 (1989).
Kosik, K. S., Orecchio, L. D., Bakalis, S. & Neve, R. L. Neuron 2, 1389–1397 (1989).
Lee, G., Neve, R. L. & Kosik, K. S. Neuron 2, 1615–1624 (1989).
Papandrikopoulou, A., Doll, T., Tucker, R. P., Garner, C. C. & Matus, A. Nature 340, 650–652 (1989).
Vallee, R. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77, 3206–3210 (1980).
Heidemann, S. R., Landers, J. M. & Hamborg, M. A. J. Cell Biol. 91, 661–665 (1981).
Baas, P. W., Deitch, J. S., Black, M. M. & Banker, G. A. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 8335–8339 (1988).
Kanai, Y., Chen, J. & Hirokawa, N. EMBO J. 11, 3953–3962 (1992).
Wilie, H. et al. J. struct. Biol. 108, 49–61 (1992).
Webb, N. R. & Summers, M. D. MAXBAC™: Baculovirus Expression System. A Manual of Methods for Baculovirus Vectors and Insect Cell Culture Procedures (Invitrogen, San Diego, 1990).
Sato-Yoshitake, R., Shiomura, Y., Miyasaka, H. & Hirokawa, N. Neutron 3, 229–238 (1989).
Hirokawa, N. J. Cell Biol. 94, 129–142 (1982).
Hirokawa, N., Shiomura, Y. & Okabe, S. J. Cell Biol. 107, 1449–1461 (1988).
Hirokawa, N., Hisanaga, S. & Shiomura, Y. J. Neurosci. 8, 285–306 (1988).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, J., Kanai, Y., Cowan, N. et al. Projection domains of MAP2 and tau determine spacings between microtubules in dendrites and axons. Nature 360, 674–677 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/360674a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/360674a0
This article is cited by
-
Complexes of tubulin oligomers and tau form a viscoelastic intervening network cross-bridging microtubules into bundles
Nature Communications (2024)
-
Probing stress-regulated ordering of the plant cortical microtubule array via a computational approach
BMC Plant Biology (2023)
-
Neocortex neurogenesis and maturation in the African greater cane rat
Neural Development (2023)
-
Prion-like strain effects in tauopathies
Cell and Tissue Research (2023)
-
Retromer dysfunction at the nexus of tauopathies
Cell Death & Differentiation (2021)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.