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Vol. 14, Issue 12, 5082-5088, December 2003

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Dissection of the Ascaris Sperm Motility Machinery Identifies Key Proteins Involved in Major Sperm Protein-based Amoeboid Locomotion

Shawnna M. Buttery ^*, Gail C. Ekman ^*, Margaret Seavy ^*, Murray Stewart , and Thomas M. Roberts ^* 

^* Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306; MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, CB2 2QH, United Kingdom

Submitted April 21, 2003; Revised August 7, 2003; Accepted August 21, 2003
Monitoring Editor: Anthony Bretscher

Although Ascaris sperm motility closely resembles that seen in many other types of crawling cells, the lamellipodial dynamics that drive movement result from modulation of a cytoskeleton based on the major sperm protein (MSP) rather than actin. The dynamics of the Ascaris sperm cytoskeleton can be studied in a cell-free in vitro system based on the movement of plasma membrane vesicles by fibers constructed from bundles of MSP filaments. In addition to ATP, MSP, and a plasma membrane protein, reconstitution of MSP motility in this cell-free extract requires cytosolic proteins that orchestrate the site-specific assembly and bundling of MSP filaments that generates locomotion. Here, we identify a fraction of cytosol that is comprised of a small number of proteins but contains all of the soluble components required to assemble fibers. We have purified two of these proteins, designated MSP fiber proteins (MFPs) 1 and 2 and demonstrated by immunolabeling that both are located in the MSP cytoskeleton in cells and in fibers. These proteins had reciprocal effects on fiber assembly in vitro: MFP1 decreased the rate of fiber growth, whereas MFP2 increased the growth rate.

Corresponding author. E-mail address: roberts{at}bio.fsu.edu.

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