Synaptic membrane G proteins are complexed with tubulin in situ.

The G proteins G S and Gi1 appear to be capable of binding to tubulin specifically, and it has been suggested that such binding results in G protein activation via direct transfer of GTP. This study was undertaken to demonstrate that consequences of G protein activation by tubulin, i.e., stimulation or inhibition of adenyl cyclase, were dependent on the G proteins expressed as well as unique aspects of the membrane or cytoskeleton in a given cell type. Membranes from rat C6 glioma cells, which express G s alpha but not G i alpha 1, responded to the addition of tubulin with a stable activation of adenyl cyclase. Conversely, membranes from rat cerebral cortex, which contain both G s and G i 1, responded to exogenous tubulin with a stable inhibition of adenyl cyclase. Unlike C6 membranes, cerebral cortex membranes are richly endowed with tubulin, and antitubulin antibodies immunoprecipitated complexes of tubulin and G i 1 and G s from detergent extracts of these membranes. Nearly 90% of the G s alpha from Triton X-114 extracts coimmunoprecipitated with tubulin, suggesting that these proteins exist as a complex in the synaptic membrane. Such complexes may provide the framework for a G protein-cytoskeleton link that participates in the modulation of cellular signal transduction.