Pucciarelli, SandraSparvoli, DanielaBallarini, PatriziaPiersanti, AngelaMozzicafreddo, MatteoArregui García-Rovés, LucíaMiceli, Cristina2024-11-192024-11-192022Pucciarelli, 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/microorganisms101224152076-260710.3390/microorganisms10122415https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/110803This 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.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.engAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/journal articlehttps://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10122415https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/10/12/2415open access575636.082.11576tubulin functionmicrotubule diversitiesgene-silencingprotozoaMicrobiología (Biología)GenéticaBiología celular (Biología)3109.05 Microbiología2409.90 Citogenética Animal