Research News
Promiscuous Binding of Microprotein Mozart1 to γ-Tubulin Complex Mediates Specific Subcellular Targeting to Control Microtubule Array Formation
By Dr. Hsia, Kuo-Chiang - June, 2020 Cell Reports 31, 107836.How γ-tubulin ring complex (γ-TuRC), a master template for microtubule nucleation, is spatially and temporally regulated for the assembly of new microtubule arrays remains nuclear. Here, we report that an evolutionarily conserved microprotein, Mozart1 (Mzt1), regulates subcellular targeting and microtubule formation activity of γ-TuRC at different cell cycle stages. Crystal structures of protein complexes demonstrate that Mzt1 promiscuously interacts with the N-terminal domains of multiple γ-tubulin complex protein subunits in γ-TuRC via an intercalative binding mode. Genetic and microscopy-based analyses show that promiscuous binding of Mzt1 in γ-TuRC controls specific subcellular localization of γ-TuRC to modulate microtubule nucleation and stabilization in fission yeast. Moreover, we found Mzt1-independent targeting of γ-TuRC to be crucial for mitotic spindle assembly, demonstrating cell cycle-dependent regulation and function of γ-TuRC. Our findings reveal a microprotein-mediated regulatory mechanism underlying microtubule cytoskeleton formation whereby Mzt1 binding promiscuity confers localization specificity on the multi-protein complex γ-TuRC.
