Sequence heterogeneity, multiplicity, and genomic organization of alpha- and beta-tubulin genes in sea urchins.

We analyzed the multiplicity, heterogeneity, and organization of the genes encoding the alpha and beta tubulins in the sea urchin Lytechinus pictus by using cloned complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) and genomic tubulin sequences. cDNA clones were constructed by using immature spermatogenic testis polyadenylic acid-containing ribonucleic acid as a template. alpha- and beta-tubulin clones were identified by hybrid selection and in vitro translation of the corresponding messenger ribonucleic acids, followed by immunoprecipitation and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of the translation products. The alpha cDNA clone contains a sequence that encodes the 48 C-terminal amino acids of alpha tubulin and 104 base pairs of the 3' nontranslated portion of the messenger ribonucleic acid. The beta cDNA insertion contains the coding sequence for the 100-C terminal amino acids of beta tubulin and 83 pairs of the 3' noncoding sequence. Hybrid selections performed at different criteria demonstrated the presence of several heterogeneous, closely related tubulin messenger ribonucleic acids, suggesting the existence of heterogeneous alpha- and beta-tubulin genes. Hybridization analyses indicated that there are at least 9 to 13 sequences for each of the two tubulin gene families per haploid genome. Hybridization of the cDNA probes to both total genomic DNA and cloned germline DNA fragments gave no evidence for close physical linkage of alpha-tubulin genes with beta-tubulin genes at the DNA level. In contrast, these experiments indicated that some genes within the same family are clustered.