Determination of Microtubule Lattice Parameters from Cryo-electron Microscope Images Using TubuleJ

Siou Ku (1) , Cédric Messaoudi (2, 3) , Charlotte Guyomar (1) , Charles Kervrann (4) , Denis Chrétien (1)

1 IGDR - Institut de Génétique et Développement de Rennes
2 Université Paris-Saclay
3 Institut Curie [Paris]
4 SERPICO - Space-timE RePresentation, Imaging and cellular dynamics of molecular COmplexes

The α-β tubulin heterodimer undergoes subtle conformational changes during microtubule assembly. These can be modulated by external factors, whose effects on microtubule structure can be characterized on 2D views obtained by cryo-electron microscopy. Analysis of microtubule images is facilitated if they are straight enough to interpret and filter their image Fourier transform, which provide useful information concerning the arrangement of tubulin molecules inside the microtubule lattice. Here, we describe the use of the TubuleJ software to straighten microtubules and determine their lattice parameters. Basic 3D reconstructions can be performed to evaluate the relevance of these parameters. This approach can be used to analyze the effects of nucleotide analogues, drugs or MAPs on microtubule structure, or to select microtubule images prior to high-resolution 3D reconstructions.

Mots clés: Tubulin; Microtubules; Microtubule lattice parameters; Microtubule polarity; Cryo-electron microscopy; Image analysis; Helical assemblies; Three-dimensional reconstructions; Cryo-electron

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Siou Ku, Cédric Messaoudi, Charlotte Guyomar, Charles Kervrann, Denis Chrétien. Determination of Microtubule Lattice Parameters from Cryo-electron Microscope Images Using TubuleJ. Bio-protocol , 2020, 10 (21), pp.e3814. ⟨10.21769/BioProtoc.3814⟩. ⟨hal-03040292⟩