Characterization of TtALV2, an essential charged repeat motif protein of the Tetrahymena thermophila membrane skeleton

H El-Haddad; JM Przyborski; LGK Kraft; GI McFadden; RF Waller; SB Gould

Journal article

Characterization of TtALV2, an essential charged repeat motif protein of the Tetrahymena thermophila membrane skeleton

H El-Haddad, JM Przyborski, LGK Kraft, GI McFadden, RF Waller, SB Gould

Eukaryotic Cell | AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY | Published : 2013

DOI: 10.1128/EC.00050-13

Abstract

Alveolins are a recently described class of proteins common to all members of the superphylum Alveolata that are characterized by conserved charged repeat motifs (CRMs) but whose exact function remains unknown. We have analyzed the smaller of the two alveolins of Tetrahymena thermophila, TtALV2. The protein localizes to dispersed, broken patches arranged between the rows of the longitudinal microtubules. Macronuclear knockdown of Ttalv2 leads to multinuclear cells with no apparent cell polarity and randomly occurring cell protrusions, either by interrupting pellicle integrity or by disturbing cytokinesis. Correct association of TtALV2 with the alveoli or the pellicle is complex and depends o..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Geoffrey McFadden Author

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Grants

Awarded by DFG

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

S.B.G. thanks the Heinrich-Heine-University Dusseldorf (SFF starter grant), and the DFG (1825/3-1) for financial support. A Discovery grant (DP0664097) to R. F. W. and G. I. M. from the Australian Research Council is gratefully acknowledged. 12G10 was obtained from the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank developed under the auspices of the NICHD and maintained by The University of Iowa, Department of Biology, Iowa City, IA.