Identification of a protein altered in mutants resistant to microtubule inhibitors as a member of the major heat shock protein (hsp70) family.

A major cellular protein (P2; approximately 70 kilodaltons) which is altered in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell mutants resistant to the microtubule inhibitors colchicine and podophyllotoxin has been shown to correspond to the constitutive form of the 70-kilodalton heat shock protein (hsc70). The inference that P2 and hsc70 are the same protein is based on the following observations: (i) migration of P2 in two-dimensional polyacrylamide gels in the same position as that reported for hsc70; (ii) cross-reactivity of a monoclonal antibody which reacts with both the constitutive and induced forms of hsp70 with the P2 spot from wild-type CHO cells and with both P2 and a mutant form of P2 in a CHO cell mutant; (iii) specific reactivity of a polyclonal antibody to P2 with both the constitutive and heat-induced forms of hsp70 in human cells; (iv) identical immunofluorescent staining of dot/patchlike structures with both P2 and hsp70 antibodies in human and CHO cells; and (v) a cDNA clone for hsc70 has been isolated and sequenced from wild-type CHO cells. The in vitro transcription and translation product of this cDNA has been shown to comigrate with the P2 protein spot in two-dimensional gels, indicating their identity. The fact that there is an alteration in hsc70 in mutants resistant to antimitotic drugs suggests a role for this protein in the in vivo assembly and function of microtubules.