Functional Divergence of Microtubule-Associated TPX2 Family Members in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>

oleh: Eva Dvořák Tomaštíková, Twan Rutten, Petr Dvořák, Alisa Tugai, Klara Ptošková, Beáta Petrovská, Daniel van Damme, Andreas Houben, Jaroslav Doležel, Dmitri Demidov

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2020-03-01

Deskripsi

TPX2 (Targeting Protein for Xklp2) is an evolutionary conserved microtubule-associated protein important for microtubule nucleation and mitotic spindle assembly. The protein was described as an activator of the mitotic kinase Aurora A in humans and the <i>Arabidopsis</i> AURORA1 (AUR1) kinase. In contrast to animal genomes that encode only one TPX2 gene, higher plant genomes encode a family with several <i>TPX2-LIKE</i> gene members (TPXL). TPXL genes of <i>Arabidopsis</i> can be divided into two groups. Group A proteins (TPXL2, 3, 4, and 8) contain Aurora binding and TPX2_importin domains, while group B proteins (TPXL1, 5, 6, and 7) harbor an Xklp2 domain. Canonical TPX2 contains all the above-mentioned domains. We confirmed using in vitro kinase assays that the group A proteins contain a functional Aurora kinase binding domain. Transient expression of <i>Arabidopsis</i> TPX2-like proteins in <i>Nicotiana benthamiana</i> revealed preferential localization to microtubules and nuclei. Co-expression of AUR1 together with TPX2-like proteins changed the localization of AUR1, indicating that these proteins serve as targeting factors for Aurora kinases. Taken together, we visualize the various localizations of the TPX2-LIKE family in <i>Arabidopsis</i> as a proxy to their functional divergence and provide evidence of their role in the targeted regulation of AUR1 kinase activity.