A minor microtubule-associated protein is responsible for the stimulation of vesicular stomatitis virus transcription in vitro.

An activity found in bovine brain microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) which stimulated vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) transcription in vitro co-eluted from a gel filtration column (Sepharose CL-6B) with a minor MAP subset of an apparent Mr of 100,000 to 250,000. The activity did not appear to be closely associated with MAPs 1, MAPs 2, tau or tubulin. Anti-MAPs 1 and anti-MAPs 2 IgG did not reduce or abolish the stimulatory activity. The bovine brain MAPs stimulatory activity was similar to that found in HeLa cell extracts: both were heat-resistant, and both co-purified with the MAPs fraction of cell extracts; also amounts of each which gave maximum stimulation when used separately did not give additional stimulation when combined. Fractions from the Sepharose CL-6B column that contained the greatest amount of stimulatory activity exhibited little or no cAMP-dependent or -independent kinase activity. The MAPs stimulatory activity required the presence of both L and NS polymerase subunits.