Distribution of a kinesinrelated protein on Golgi apparatus of tobacco pollen tubes

The conventional kinesin and kinesin-related proteins (KRPs) constitute a large family of microtubule-based molecular motors. Members of this family bind to micro-tubules in an ATP-dependent manner. They all have microtubule-activated ATPaes activities, and play essential roles in the transport of various vesicles and organelles in eukaryotic cells[1―3]. The first plant kinesin-like protein was detected in tobacco pollen tube with an antibody against animal kinesin[4]. Recently, a number …

Distribution of a kinesin-related protein on Golgi apparatus of tobacco pollen tubes

Previous study has shown that the internal motor kinesin AtKinesin-13A is associated with Golgi stacks in various Arabidopsis cells. With degenerate primers, a segment of 2067 bp was cloned from tobacco by RT-PCR. The polypeptide coded by the segment has 77.33% similarities with the corresponding part of AtKinesin-13A from Arabidopsis; and antibody of AtKinesin-13A recognized specifi. cally the expressed products of the segment in bacteria. Using the anti-AtKinesin-13A antibodies, a 120 kD polypeptide was detected from protein extracts of various organs from Nicotiana tabacum, indicating that a homologue of AtKine- sin-13A protein, NtKinesin-13A, is expressed in Nicotlana tabacum. Immunofluorescence staining showed that the tobacco NtKinesin-13A protein appeared in particles in pollen tubes by confocal microscopy. Immunofluorescence double labeling showed that the NtKinesin-13A protein particles partially co-distributed with 58K protein, indicating that NtKinesin-13A is located on Golgi apparatus, lmmuno-gold labeling and electron microscopy observation revealed that the NtKinesin-13A was associated with Golgi-associated vesicles membranes in tobacco pollen tubes. These results suggest that the NtKinesin-13A may probably play an important role in controlling Golgi stacks, and/or in transporting Golgiderived vesicles in pollen tubes.