Tubulin cofactor A gene silencing in mammalian cells induces changes in microtubule cytoskeleton, cell cycle arrest and cell death

• Autor(a) principal: Nolasco, Sofia
• Data de Publicação: 2005
• Outros Autores: Bellido, Javier, Gonçalves, João, Zabala, Juan Carlos, Soares, Helena
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/3045
• topic: Actin cytoskeleton; Apoptosis; Caspase 7; Cell cycle; Gene silencing; Microtubule-associated proteins; Microtubules; Molecular chaperones; Phenotype; RNA, Small interfering; Tubulin; β-Tubulin cofactor A; Molecular chaperone

Microtubules are polymers of alpha/beta-tubulin participating in essential cell functions. A multistep process involving distinct molecular chaperones and cofactors produces new tubulin heterodimers competent to polymerise. In vitro cofactor A (TBCA) interacts with beta-tubulin in a quasi-native state behaving as a molecular chaperone. We have used siRNA to silence TBCA expression in HeLa and MCF-7 mammalian cell lines. TBCA is essential for cell viability and its knockdown produces a decrease in the amount of soluble tubulin, modifications in microtubules and G1 cell cycle arrest. In MCF-7 cells, cell death was preceded by a change in cell shape resembling differentiation.