CSPP1 stabilizes microtubules by capping both plus and minus ends

Zhikai Wang; Wenwen Wang; Shuaiyu Liu; Fengrui Yang; Xu Liu; Shasha Hua; Lijuan Zhu; Aoqing Xu; Donald L Hill; Dongmei Wang; Kai Jiang; Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz; Xing Liu; Xuebiao Yao

doi:10.1093/jmcb/mjae007

CSPP1 stabilizes microtubules by capping both plus and minus ends

J Mol Cell Biol. 2024 Feb 22:mjae007. doi: 10.1093/jmcb/mjae007. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Zhikai Wang^{1

2}, Wenwen Wang^{1

2}, Shuaiyu Liu^{1

2}, Fengrui Yang^{1

2}, Xu Liu^{1

2}, Shasha Hua³, Lijuan Zhu^{1

2}, Aoqing Xu^{1

2}, Donald L Hill⁴, Dongmei Wang^{1

2}, Kai Jiang³, Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz⁵, Xing Liu^{1

2}, Xuebiao Yao¹

Affiliations

¹ MOE Key Laboratory for Cellular Dynamics, University of Science and Technology of China School of Life Sciences, Hefei 230027, China.
² Anhui Key Laboratory for Cellular Dynamics and Chemical Biology, Hefei National Research Center for Interdisciplinary Sciences at the Microscale, Hefei 230027, China.
³ Frontier Science Center for Immunology and Metabolism, Medical Research Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China.
⁴ Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL 35233, USA.
⁵ Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA.

PMID: 38389254
DOI: 10.1093/jmcb/mjae007

Abstract

Although the dynamic instability of microtubules (MTs) is fundamental to many cellular functions, quiescent MTs with unattached free distal ends are commonly present and play important roles in various events to power cellular dynamics. However, how these free MT tips are stabilized remains poorly understood. Here, we report that centrosome and spindle pole protein 1 (CSPP1) caps and stabilizes both plus and minus ends of static MTs. Real-time imaging of laser-ablated MTs in live cells showed deposition of CSPP1 at the newly generated MT ends, whose dynamic instability was concomitantly suppressed. Consistently, MT ends in CSPP1-overexpressing cells were hyper-stabilized, while those in CSPP1-depleted cells were much more dynamic. This CSPP1-elicited stabilization of MTs was demonstrated to be achieved by suppressing intrinsic MT catastrophe and restricting the polymerization. Importantly, CSPP1-bound MTs were resistant to MCAK-mediated depolymerization. These findings delineate a previously uncharacterized CSPP1 activity that integrates MT end capping to orchestrate quiescent MTs.

Keywords: CSPP1; capping; microtubule; minus end; plus end.