RT Journal Article
T1 Ciliate Microtubule Diversities: Insights from the EFBTU3 Tubulin in the Antarctic Ciliate Euplotes focardii
A1 Pucciarelli, Sandra
A1 Sparvoli, Daniela
A1 Ballarini, Patrizia
A1 Piersanti, Angela
A1 Mozzicafreddo, Matteo
A1 Arregui García-Rovés, Lucía
A1 Miceli, Cristina
AB Protozoans of the Phylum Ciliophora (ciliates) assemble many diverse microtubular structures in a single cell throughout the life cycle, a feature that made them useful models to study microtubule complexity and the role of tubulin isotypes. In the Antarctic ciliate Euplotes focardii we identified five β-tubulin isotypes by genome sequencing, named EFBTU1, EFBTU2, EFBTU3, EFBTU4 and EFBTU5. By using polyclonal antibodies directed against EFBTU2/EFBTU1 and EFBTU3, we show that the former isotypes appear to be involved in the formation of all microtubular structures and are particularly abundant in cilia, whereas the latter specifically localizes at the bases of cilia. By RNA interference (RNAi) technology, we silenced the EFBTU3 gene and provided evidence that this isotype has a relevant role in cilia regeneration upon deciliation and in cell division. These results support the long-standing concept that tubulin isotypes possess functional specificity in building diverse microtubular structures.
PB MDPI
SN 2076-2607
YR 2022
FD 2022
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/110803
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/110803
LA eng
NO Pucciarelli, S.; Sparvoli, D.; Ballarini, P.; Piersanti, A.; Mozzicafreddo, M.; Arregui, L.; Miceli, C. Ciliate Microtubule Diversities: Insights from the EFBTU3 Tubulin in the Antarctic Ciliate Euplotes focardii. Microorganisms 2022, 10, 2415. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10122415
NO This work was supported by grants from the Italian “Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide” (PNRA) to C.M. (PNRA18_00133. 2020-2022.), P.S., D.S. and A.P. acknowledge the EU-COST (action BM1102) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (Microbiology initiative) for supporting part of this work.
NO Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca (Italia)
NO European COoperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research
NO Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
DS Docta Complutense
RD 26 dic 2025