Isolation of microtubules and a dynein-like MgATPase from unfertilized sea urchin eggs.

Taxol was used to prepare microtubules from unfertilized eggs of sea urchins Lytechinus pictus, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis , and Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. By electron microscopy, these microtubules possessed normal morphology and were decorated with projections. The polypeptides present were tubulin plus microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) which included various high molecular weight polypeptides, and a Mr = 80,000 polypeptide. These MAPs were extracted from the microtubules by differential centrifugation in high ionic strength buffers, yielding a pellet of microtubules which were not decorated with projections. The Mr = 80,000 and high molecular weight MAPs were separated using Bio-Gel A-1.5 m chromatography, and shown to bind taxol-stabilized microtubules assembled from purified bovine brain tubulin. A dynein-like MgATPase activity is present in sea urchin egg extracts. 10-20% of this MgATPase co-pelleted with the taxol-assembled microtubules, under conditions where greater than 90% of the tubulin pelleted. During subsequent fractionation of the microtubules, by (i) high salt extraction followed by gel filtration or sucrose density gradient fractionation or (ii) ATP extraction, the MgATpase co-purified with high Mr MAPs. The MgATPase which remained in the microtubule-depleted egg extract was partially purified by (NH4)2SO4 fractionation, followed by Bio-Gel A-5 m and hydroxylapatite chromatography. The high Mr MAP MgATPase and the hydroxylapatite MgATPase both contained a prominent polypeptide (Mr approximately 350,000), which co-migrated on sodium dodecyl sulfate gels with the major heavy chain of dynein extracted from sperm axonemes. Our data suggest that this Mr approximately 350,000 polypeptide is cytoplasmic dynein.